


Till Death Do Us Part

by Radiate_the_Darkness



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Based on a song, Danvid, Emotional Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Jen makes an appearance/mentioned, M/M, Minor Character Death, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, Undead, Zombie AU, Zombie Apocalypse, it's gonna get fucked up, necrophilia?? oh gOD, only slight violence, survivor! David, survivor! Gwen, zombie! Daniel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 04:03:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 42,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12879783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radiate_the_Darkness/pseuds/Radiate_the_Darkness
Summary: He didn’t want to call them people—but that’s what they were before they got turned into beasts. Beasts who had no mind of their own; who attacked people without hesitation because they no longer recognized what they were doing was wrong.The thing that made them human got eaten away by the virus.. . . . .David knew the rules. Gwen enforced these rules for their survival. He can't let a slip up become a hurricane. David was not stupid. David was not stupid.Yet, words fail him as he finds himself entranced with the most unlikely being on earth. The virus on this one... was different.(Inspired by "The Zombie Song" by Stephanie Mabey. It'll be based on that)





	1. Youth

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if anyone has made a zombie au yet? But I'm pretty sure they're out there. I just wanted to contribute one for Danvid.  
> So in this AU, David and Gwen aren’t camp counselors? They’ve never met the kids and Camp Campbell is a place they’ve never been to (they will soon). There are other characters I didn’t include, since the campers probably haven’t met each other. This isn’t set in the camping universe but the cabins and what-not will stay.  
> This is greatly inspired by "The Zombie Song" by Stephanie Mabey (https://youtu.be/ZPNqub966Tw)  
> I recommend y'all to listen to it! Cause this fic will be based on that *chuckles* so yeah, watch out for that ending. (also cause that one Hamilton animatic for this song has inspired me to write this. Um, I hope I don't fuck this up)  
> And I was hoping for a one shot -_- Hopefully, this won't take me long to finish.

David hefted his bloodied bat, looking down at the mess he has made. The barbed wire did a number on the poor albeit ferocious thing. It was technically not alive anymore, he was sure of that. He didn’t want to call them people—but that’s what they were before they got turned into beasts. Beasts who had no mind of their own; who attacked people without hesitation because they no longer recognized what they were doing was wrong.

The thing that made them human got eaten away by the virus.

The man swiped his stray auburn hair away from his face, exhausted and terrified and feeling all sorts of drained. It had only been two weeks since the terrible event. He wouldn’t call it an outbreak, ‘cause God knows how long it’s been out there, spreading slowly from one small group to another until it finally reached crowded cities. The only notification he got was when he was driving out of town to meet a high school friend of his, Gwen.

“Keep it together. I can’t have you puking out your lunch and complaining you’re hungry. We need to save our food till tomorrow,” a girl whose brown hair was tied up in a high ponytail passed him by, not giving the dead thing in front of him a second glance.

“I’m- I’m sorry, I know, but gosh this is something no one should get used to.” David eyed the corpse once more and trailed behind her. He lowered his spiked bat and fiddled with his backpack as a nervous tic. They both carried bags that contained their belongings. Water bottles, snack bars, some packed food that haven’t spoilt yet, a flashlight or two, and the like.

“No one should,” Gwen echoed. She turned back and laced her gloved hand with his clammy ones. “But this hellish nightmare should never have happened at all.” She tightened her grip. Her unusually violet eyes stared at him with sympathy then it hardened. David knew it was something they learned to develop; to suppress your weakness.

David was failing at that moment. He took a shuddering breath and nodded slowly. He felt his heart beat rise. He was panicking again. Gwen sensed the change. She stopped and reached over to grip his olive green parka. He stumbled forward and right into her terrifying gaze. He almost felt compelled to hit the ground and kiss her combat boots.

“We’re the only ones we’ve got, David. It sucks that this happened. It sucks that people died in horrendous ways. It sucks that we’ll never meet the fucker who started all this so we can put a bullet through his head. But as humans, we need to adapt. We need to survive, even in harsh conditions,” she released his parka, gloved hands holding his shoulders firmly. “We can only survive if we watch out for each other.” She patted his shoulder reassuringly. David calmed his breathing and he was suddenly thankful for having Gwen there, despite everything that’s happened.

“You’re right,” he managed a small laugh. “I’m being stupid. I’ll try to keep it in next time so I don’t freak out when we get in trouble.” Then in a small voice, the man added, “I don’t want to be the cause of your misery.”

He knew Gwen heard, but the only sign of acknowledgement he got from her was a brief nod. She’s putting up her walls again, and it’s about time he do the same.

His reunion with Gwen went fairly well. That day, he took her out for lunch and they talked endlessly about their college lives and what went down. They were still close despite David transferring to another school. They talked about their old friends and David wondered if he should’ve rung up Jasper as well. But the day was reserved for his best friend and Gwen had that appreciative look on her face. Everything went crashing down when someone started screaming, then another. And suddenly, David was being pushed back by a stampede of people as they run the other way. He lost sight of Gwen when he got up on his feet.

“Shit, I think I see another one in the distance,” the girl halted in her tracks, lifting her machete in a readying stance. David saw her glance at her watch and she cursed again. “It’s a good thing we climbed that building to check out our surroundings. The horde will come in a few hours,” the horde they’ve seen when they were up on the roof of a small building seemed to come from afar. It would take the slow bunch of them hours to get to where they were, but the size terrified David.

He has seen—or heard—a total of two hordes in the past two weeks. The last time, he was thankful he and Gwen were out of the vicinity. They simply heard from a guy from their group that have seen a huge clump of them. Cameron had been gone for two days and when they found him, he looked like he’s lived through hell and back. He recounted his story of the horde and how he barely managed to escape.

That was a lie. He hid the bite on his arm thinking it wouldn’t do anything. He refused to believe he’s infected. It wasn’t until Gwen shook David awake at night that he realized they were in trouble. Cameron had already left two of their members in bloody pieces. He was busy trying to tear into one helpless girl’s neck when David and Gwen slipped out.

It traumatized David and Gwen and every night, they slept in each other’s embrace. They never spoke of the incident again, but they both knew the other was still shaken by it. They held each other like they’ll never go through what Cameron has done. They protected each other. David knew he’d be lost without Gwen.

This also became the reason why they had to suppress weakness. Weakness... was inviting other people in. Weakness... was helping an already bitten person. Weakness... was joining in groups.

“I suggest we keep running and find a place to hide out in,” David spoke up, feeling chills run up his arms despite his warm parka. Just the thought of the horde made him want to scream in frustration and fear and hide.

“That’s a good suggestion,” Gwen said offhandedly, stalking towards the shambling once-person. The thing’s hand was outstretched. The brunette felt bile rise from his stomach as he saw the face. It was bitten and mauled beyond recognition. He couldn’t tell if it was a she or a he.

It took Gwen two swings to send the creature falling to the ground. Her machete glinted in the daylight. The skies above them were growing darker and David remembered time was ticking. The sun will slowly disappear. He did not want to be out and about when the horde came in the darkness. So he caught up to her and they kept walking.

Walk. Walk. Walk. _Run. Run. Run_. Just like the day the infection got around and David didn’t know what to do. He wanted his feet to take him far away from that place, but his mind shouted at him to find Gwen. She was probably swept by the group of people who ran. As the brunette ran, he twisted his neck around, anticipating the brown hair and violet eyes. He called her name out but it was drowned out by spine-chilling screams of those who got tackled down.

He avoided several infected people who reached out to him. He wanted so bad to reach down and help them, and he almost did, until the light behind their eyes vanished and their lips that once asked for help were now growling at him. He was devastated when he didn’t find Gwen, but he knew he can’t hang around long. Soon, he met an Asian girl with long black hair.

“If we’re gonna survive together, it’s important I know what to call out when I see a zombie after you,” she said a little out of breath. The way she said zombie didn’t sit right with the brunette. It sounded silly and if anything, he’d prefer to call them by another name like they did in The Walking Dead. She introduced herself as Darla. They hid and helped each other out for a couple days. And then Darla almost got killed when they were restocking on food supplies. Someone fired a shot, thinking they were infected, but soon as they yelled, people came out. David saw the familiar light brown complexion and violet eyes and suddenly he was hugging Gwen and crying on her shoulder.

“I think it’s best we all get acquainted then,” bellowed from the man holding the shotgun. Cameron.

David snapped out of his thoughts when he saw something from the distance. He and Gwen had wound up in the woods and just up ahead, there was a sign. The letters looked faded. He squinted to try to read the words but with no luck.

“You’re seeing what I’m seeing right?” David hauled Gwen forward.

“A sign, yes David. Any person could see that.” Gwen huffed, unamused but letting herself be dragged anyway.

Before they could come closer, a scream tore out from their right. David’s head snapped to the direction just as Gwen did, weapons at the ready. That scream didn’t sound anything like the ones he heard before. This one’s feminine and younger.

“A child?” he voiced out his concern.

“Can’t be,” there was hesitance in Gwen’s voice. No one knew what happened to the younger generation. They assumed they met their deaths earlier than anyone, seeing as they’re helpless and small and—

“We should help them!” David ran forward. He ignored the rules Gwen set for them—the rules that determined their survival. Never be stupid. Don’t go after damsels in distresses. Yet here he was, detaching himself from the one thing that gave him life and tearing through the forest to find the little girl.

“David, what the hell!” came Gwen’s surprised shout. If there was one thing David had a soft spot for, it’s children. The thought of being in the same area with a child being cornered by that thing and not being there to help said poor child gave him chills. It fueled him to keep running. From behind him, he could hear Gwen’s heavy combat boots thudding on dry leaves trying to catch up to him.

Another scream, this time a boy’s.

It was much closer now and David turned a sharp left. He froze, seeing a hulking figure crouched on the ground. The poor girl... it was too late. David’s blood ran cold as the dying girl’s eyes focused one last time on them before closing for eternity. Her green hair spilled in disarray below her. She looked no older than 10 and to see such a young life taken away...

David was closing the distance before he could blink. He hadn’t even noticed the three other kids when he came up behind the monster and beat him to a pulp. He let his rage overcome him and swung like the world depended on him. He hit, and he hit, and he hit. The sickening crunch of nails and flesh should overwhelm him, but it didn’t. That was a _young_ child. She had so much to live for.

“David, stop! He’s dead already!” Gwen was in front of him. While he was engrossed with trying to justify the girl’s death, his friend had stepped forward to protect the kids. Counted them off and herded them together.

He dropped his bat and sobbed. He couldn’t do this. It was so unfair to people who got their lives taken too early. He was so mad but he didn’t know whom to direct it to. He let the tears fall.

Gwen enveloped him in a hug. He calmed his breathing. One, two, three…

“Thank you, mister.” Came a small voice from behind Gwen. Others followed in mumbling their thanks.

There are kids. And they were alive. Three of them.

“How long have you been out here?” David said in time with Gwen’s “it’s not safe out here.” They shared a quick glance and turned back to the children. They were quite a group. The pale, large boy who towered over their group introduced himself as Nurf. The lanky boy with the bowl cut bowed and said he was Preston. The smallest of them seemed to be the only one smiling after seeing David and Gwen’s entrance. He also wore a bowl on his head and introduced himself as Neil.

“But they just call me Space Kid ‘cause I wear this cool helmet,” he knocked his knuckled against the bowl on his head.

“He wears it ‘cause he thinks it’ll protect him from the virus,” Nurf explained. David didn’t want to mention their other friend and felt embarrassed to ask. Heck, she still laid there, below the bloodied mess that David’s wrath conducted. He cleared his throat and caught Gwen’s eye. She knew this wasn’t the right place to talk. Not with death’s scent lingering around them.

 _Never join with other groups_. The rules repeated itself in his head. He took one good look at Gwen, searching for signs that she’ll up and abandon them. He knew her friend wasn’t the type to do that to him. But rules were rules, and David was afraid she’ll let it come between their friendship. He had nothing to worry about. The girl had already hidden her machete and was talking to them placidly. She asked where they came from or how they got there. Preston’s eyes lit up.

“We were hiding out in this—hmph!” Nurf clamped his hand over the boy’s mouth. They shared a heated stare, the other one frightened.

“Is something wrong?” David asked hesitantly. Nurf looked at David and gave him a suspicious once over. Then at Gwen.

“It’s just the two of you, right?” He asked, looking around as if there were other people about to jump on them. Gwen and David nodded.

“We hide in this place called Camp Campbell. It’s a cool looking camp site that looks like it’s been abandoned for a while. Max and the other Neil are there! We kind of had a fight since we heard something outside and wanted to investigate it but Max said that we were asking for a death wish!” Space Kid tugged on David’s hand sweetly and it made his heart jump. He can’t help but agree with Max’s decision.

“They stayed while me, Nurf, Preston, and Nikki went out. We thought if we saw survivors, they’d help us. We could go find the safe haven together and we’d be safe!” Space Kid jumped. That’s when David’s heart plummeted. From all his years of being acquainted with horror movies, he knows there isn’t a real safe haven. People aren’t generous like that in times like this. _Especially_ in times like this. Gwen mirrored the expression on his face and it’ll hurt to tell this kid it didn’t work out that way. He kept his mouth shut.

Preston and Nurf gave their friend a deadly glare once he spilled his mouth, but soon relaxed when everything was fine. Gwen and David understood their caution. In fact, he was impressed. They knew when to be careful. But one look at Space Kid contradicted that thought.

Gwen told them of the incoming horde that shocked them to silence.  They’ve never seen a horde, nor will they want to. This quickened their pace to reach their destination, the so-called Camp Campbell. By the time they saw a building—a cabin from the distance, the sun has decided to lay low for the night. They hurried, ducking low as to not attract attention. Gwen and David flocked the group of kids just in case something decided to show up.

They were almost there.

“Another thing I forgot to mention,” Nurf stopped. The cabin was close to see now and David thought it looked more like a mess hall—a place where activities and breakfast and lunch is held.

“We set up traps. It’s nothing big, but it’ll alert us of any incoming people. It’s a trip wire and if someone or something trespasses, it’ll make this loud noise,” Nurf held his arms up. “It might not be the best, since being quiet and hidden is the best option, but you never know when someone’s sneaking up on you.” He said.

“Wow, that’s... actually really smart.” Gwen commented.

“It is. Neil made it!” Space Kid said. He pointed at what David now dubbed is the mess hall. “The other Neil. He’s really smart.” And they were how many years old? David can’t imagine how creative these kids were. He can’t wait to meet the other two!

“Gwen?” He hung back and let the kids find the trip wires they set. He knew this was overwhelming right now and he put Gwen first before anything else. Except that time he charged into the forest looking for the child.

“Might not be the best option, but it’s the only option,” she says light-heartedly. She smiles at him and pushes his shoulder jokingly. “Seriously, if we ran in there and everyone was infected, I’d be beating the fuck out of you right now.” She was laughing.

“I’m sorry!” David laughed, the weight coming off his shoulders a bit. “Geez, your words hurt me, Gwen. Watch your language,” he sighed. At that moment, he felt like his old self. It was like another day of goofing around with Gwen. But it wasn’t. And his happiness was short-lived when a scream captured their attention. Then voices shouting.

 _The kids_. How could they be so dumb to let them go unsupervised?

“Over there!” Space Kid waved from a distance. Both brunettes ran without a moment to spare. They heard someone else cry out from the mess hall and David briefly turned his head to see the two other kids peeking out.

“What the fuck is going on?” said the small boy with the blue jacket. David had no time to worry about his inappropriate language. Gwen was ahead of him and saw her take out her machete. But she faltered. He too slowed down when he saw what was happening. Preston was on the ground, backing away. He didn’t look like he had any bites on him nor blood. But it never hurt to check.

In front of him, Nurf had blocked the thing. The monster. Seriously, David’s going to have to come up of a name for them.

He almost shouted at Gwen to help, but saw the reason for her pause. Nurf’s arm was bleeding. A lot. And he still fought the infected.

“Nurf, what the hell?” Preston was outright weeping on the floor. David helped him up quickly. Nobody still made a move to intercept the two. Nurf was already a goner but from the way he’s fighting, it looked like a personal fight between them.

“I have to end this,” Gwen clutched her machete, stepping forward. But they were unsure steps. Nurf finally pushed the corpse off him and he collapsed backward. That’s when Gwen struck. David sent a silent prayer above that she had not went for Nurf. Once the threat was killed, everyone looked at the boy on the ground nursing his wound.

Preston sprinted to him but David was quick to catch his arm. “Y-you didn’t have to do that, you fucking idiot!” he bursted forward but David’s grip on him was tight. His haunting green eyes met violet ones in a silent agreement. Gwen’s grip on her machete tightened and her eyes fought to stay dry.

“You… you’re the idiot. You didn’t see that thing coming for you. I can’t stand by and let you—“ he yowled in pain. The infection is starting to spread. Nurf eyed the machete in Gwen’s hand and gave it a fearful look, then acceptance. This young kid knew what needed to happen.

“Don’t you dare touch him!” Preston was yelling, but it was futile. Everyone who saw what happened knew what needed to be done before the virus settles in.

“Make it quick—um, I never got your name,” Nurf exhaled deeply like he was fighting for one last breath. His fingers drummed on his arm nervously.

“Gwen. My name’s Gwen,” she said, then turns to the man. “That’s David.” Nurf nods like he’s accepting his fate. He grunts in pain and closes his eyes. Now’s the time to do it.

When Gwen brought down her machete, she brought with it all her force. David knew she did not want this kid to suffer any longer. He averted his eyes out of respect. One cut did the trick. The sound as metal hit bone resonated in the forest and it’ll haunt him for the rest of his days.

The boy in his grip went lax and he heard him sobbing. Gwen ushered them to get to the mess hall and offered to bury him. The kid, Neil, gave her his shovel, his choice of weapon. It’s the least she could do, she said. David wanted to help since it would take a while and surely, the horde will reach them soon. The kids nodded and even looked relieved when they left. It scared them. They scared them.

“You know, what you did was right, right?” David broke the silence. They dug quick and stopped only to catch their breaths. Gwen nodded.

“They were going to be exposed to things like that eventually,” David mumbled. It was a terrible thought. But as they dug, they were mindful of their surroundings. Surprisingly, the forest was inhabited lesser. That should be expected. The cities had a bigger population than those in the country side. It was very fortunate for them—except that they knew it won’t be peaceful for too long.

Time is still ticking.


	2. Swarm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOO SHIT another update that quick? Hell yeah. I'm hella into this. I'm tryna live up to my hype before it dies down. But yeah, holy shit! I'm honestly reconsidering the ending for this. At first, I kind of planned this as a one shot and base it off that one Hamilton animatic (LAMS FOREVER cri). But.. hmmm I might change it up a bit. Or not. Who knows? *shrugs*  
> also WOOP, HERE COMES DANIEL.

They placed Nurf’s corpse in their makeshift grave and buried him. They neared the entrance and David took note of how the windows were boarded up. By the time they got to the mess hall, David was removing his parka and wiping his forehead with his damp shirt. They’ve done so much in one day and he wanted to get cozy and sleep. But that was impossible. He gathered around the kids and introduced himself to the two boys who stared doe eyed at him, Max and Neil.

Maybe they’re still shaken. David felt sympathy for these young souls. He cleared his head then explained their situation. He asked each of them how they found each other and this place. It was a nice distraction from everything. Even Gwen sat in a corner and listened. She participated when the air got thick and needed a new voice to speak up. Space Kid was the interactive one out of all of them. Preston refused to look at them, but couldn’t help glancing time to time.

“Wow, the outside world seems hella scary,” Max whistled. The other kids nodded in agreement. The brunette leaned back in his seat. These are kids. Where did they learn to speak so vulgar? He wasn’t about to scold all of them but it pained him to hold back.

“How long have you been staying here?” he asked. Preston volunteered to socialize and said they’ve been in hiding since last week. They used to be a group and had adults by their side, but they didn’t make it. Some risked their lives to bring the kids to safety. Max mentioned that Nikki—the girl outside—had a mom who looked after them. Then she just vanished one day and left them to fend for themselves. She never came back and no one knew what became of her.

“What have you been eating the past few days?” Gwen spoke up from her corner. They turned to her.

“The kitchen’s stocked with canned goods. They won’t expire soon.” Neil explained. Food? Stocked up? David and Gwen enter the kitchen with Max and Neil leading them. It felt weird to have kids tour you around a place, like they knew more than you. But they did, and Gwen and David are only guests at the moment. He’s not sure if they’ll let the people who killed their friend stay but he knew the kids needed an adult.

“We’ve got a stack, actually. We don’t mind sharing,” Neil shrugged, chucking them a couple canned goods. Oh dear, these children were kind too. “Yeah, good job. With the way you’re giving out our food to people like it’s some charitable act, we’ll lose our food supply to everyone that comes by!” the grouchy kid stomped and left the room. Quite the temper, but the kid’s got a point. David raised an eyebrow at him.

“Forgive him. Max is a handful, but who isn’t? We’ve all lost something,” he looked down in deep thought. Neil looked like he was reconsidering giving them their food.

“We should get you guys a mat to sleep on. We’ve only been sleeping on sleeping bags,” said another voice. Unbeknown to then, Space Kid had slipped in the room when Max exited. He surprised David by holding and tugging on his hand. Neil led them again to another room. Before he could change the topic, Gwen brought up the elephant in the room. She asked if anyone else actually came by and what happened. Neil spilt the story and said they were a couple of girls who needed to stay for the night. It was drizzling and they came to the cabin to seek refuge. Max had been wary but Neil let them in after seeing they were harmless.

“We gave ‘em food too when they left. Who could go out on an empty stomach?” Neil frowned. “I know it wasn’t the wisest thing to do. They could be in a group or they probably knew how to fight their way around. They could’ve stolen our food and supplies. But... they didn’t.”

“Yeah! We asked if they wanted to stay, but they insisted they had to keep moving. I was kind of sad cause it’d be cool if there were more of us,” Space Kid said. Gwen helped Neil pull a couple mats and sleeping bags. They enter the room where everyone else was gathered and laid out their stuff. Preston was peeking out the boarded window. He looked nervous and was tapping his finger incessantly.

“What’s—“ Gwen was about to ask until they heard what got the kids on edge.

“It’s them,” David whispered. It was faint. David strained to hear it but it was there. Dragging footsteps on the ground. A monotone moan emitted from them. It wasn’t just one, but two. Three. Four. He heard a grotesque gurgling and all sorts of groans.

They crouched instinctively and gathered behind Preston. They peeked from behind the boards and watched as three shambling figures walked from a distance. They were near but gladly weren’t coming their way. They watched in mute silence as the creatures passed. There was something human about them, despite death coating their very being. He took note of how these people, now devoid of any life, still reacted to their surroundings. It was subtle but he saw how they twisted their necks and eyed their surroundings. They were inspecting.

David doesn’t know if these things communicate with each other. Heck, he wasn’t sure if this virus was a whole new entity that possessed them. It was a possibility that it took hold of their brain and learned to manage the controls. Was it a living organism that wormed its way there? If so, did these things... mate?

He squashed his perturbing thoughts away and focused on the living corpses. They multiplied and now flocked the forest. The cabin didn’t go unnoticed but thankfully, they didn’t sense anyone from the inside. They merely passed by. David’s eyes flitted from one corpse to another, trying to memorize their face and thinking who they were in their life. He wished so bad for these people to find peace in the afterlife, even as their body roamed the earth. No one else might remember them or mourn for them, but he will. He watched with sorrow.

It made him sicker to realize some of the corpses that passed were newly turned. Fresh, red blood flowed from their open wounds. Their skin still had that fading glow that once indicated they were human. They didn’t show any bluish pale complexion that the older ones exhibited yet. If the undead lasted longer, their skin grew bluish grey as their blood is completely drained from them. Their skin will turn dark and decayed; their eyes completely white and gone.

He slumped from the window and sat beside Gwen. There’s only so much death he could take in one day.

“How can I feel sorry for something I haven’t done?” He asked her silently. He felt a deep ache in his chest. He wanted to mourn for everyone that didn’t make it—the people who’ve been too weak or unfortunate.

“You can’t. The only way out of here is to survive.” Gwen answered back. When he turned to face her, he saw a pained look on her face. This hurt her too and he knew there was nothing they could do to help those who are gone. He tugged on her shirt, willing to stop hurting herself. Gwen eventually sat down beside him and took a deep breath.

“We’ll do everything we can to live for them. It’s the least we could do when humanity is being pushed to the brink of extinction.” She sighed. Gwen pulled up her hood to cover her face, something she did when she felt mixed emotions and didn’t want David to see it.

“You can’t say that,” David frowned. He took her gloved hand and squeezed reassuringly. “We don’t know what’s happening out there. We can’t see the bigger picture, but who knows? Maybe someone’s forming a solution to all this. Maybe some bigger force is already acting on it and has yet to rescue us. We aren’t alone,” he brought their hands to his lips. There was doubt in his words, but he held it in for her. Even false optimism is hard to catch nowadays. He whispered a silent prayer and waited for Gwen to look at him.

“The world is a big place for just you and me.  Everyone’s out there and playing a part in this. It’s not just a “who-dies-who-gets-to-live” game. Someone’s working on it, I just know it.” He closes his eyes. It pained him to bring his hopes us and he knew Gwen didn’t believe him either. But she tightened her hold and suddenly, they were hugging.

David at that moment forgot that they were getting looks from the kids. They watched warily then turned back to the window. They knew when privacy was due. And he smiled despite the misery.

“I think we should get some sleep,” Neil said, breaking their silence.

“You gotta be shitting me,” Max droned. “While those things are out there?” He gestured to the corpses. Admittedly, it was difficult to sleep knowing that any moment could be their last. Who could sleep peacefully while the area is infested with danger? Sleeping will jeopardize their lives.

But David didn’t miss the droopy eyes fighting to stay awake and a yawn escaping them. Max looked around guiltily cause he knew they all wanted to sleep. Their yawns betrayed their nodding in agreement to him.

“I’ll take first watch,” David volunteered. He ushered the kids to bed and promised to wake them up if anything suspicious comes us. It took a bit more persuasion for Gwen since she refused to let him stay up for them.

“You can trust me. I won’t abandon you at the first sign of danger,” David chuckled nervously, trying to bring her mood up.

“I know,” Gwen said. She took a second to think. “Wake me up when you feel drowsy. I’ll switch with you, m’kay?” That, David agreed with. He could stay up for a couple more hours. He watched as the kids settled in and Gwen immediately hit the sack after taking off her shoes. She was knocked out in seconds. The sight of her reminded David just how much they’ve been through in the past few days. They walked and only stopped to gather supplies. They avoided anywhere overpopulated, they avoided anyone crying for help when they knew the place was infested, they avoided staying in one place for too long. Once they got their sleep in a shabby building or a secluded dark corner, they were moving on nimble feet.

But this place screamed at them to stay. They had food and the kids were alone. The forest gave life more than any stoned building could give. There were also lesser people—er, non-humans. When they entered the forest, David noticed the decrease in ambushes. There were no cars and no buildings. No place for the undead to hide from them before attacking. He could see them from a mile away and the forest provided a good source of alert for them. Nobody can walk quietly and that assured him of the lack of surprise attacks.

He’s going to have to talk to Gwen about staying.

The night passes and the cabin goes completely dark. The windows that were boarded up supplied him filtered light. David was playing with the strands of his dark red hair as he tried to keep himself awake. His back leaned on solid wood as he blinked at the darkness. He’s got sick of looking at the corpses outside so he leaned back and relaxed. He kept an ear out and memorized the sound of feet dragging across dried leaves. Sometimes, he’d hear them stop. Then they’ll move again. He ignored the groans that mingled into one spine-chilling harmony. It sounded like a hymn for the damned.

He’s jolted awake when a loud _snap!_ rang out. It was the trip wire they activated around the mess hall. David scrambled to get up and look through the slits of the boards. One figure stood closer than the rest. He just... stood there. He was looking down at what David presumed was the source of the alarm. There was something odd about him as the figure just looked down. It’s like he knew what he stepped on and was having second thoughts of crossing. David squinted at him. Something dangled around his neck.

Then the figure looked up right into him. David nearly stumbled back but held his ground. That thing can’t possibly see him. He was probably looking at the cabin. But as David stared, the figure didn’t look away. His head didn’t turn to anywhere else. His gaze seems to lock on to the boarded window. David gulped, crouching slowly.

 _He can’t see me_ , came David’s small thought. His mind screamed at him to duck and hide, but he can’t tear his gaze away from him. Others who noticed the strange figure ignored him a second later and went on with their way. They had the shortest attention span if they saw nothing that interests them. So why was this thing interested in their cabin?

David’s heart pumped. He considered waking the other people in the room. He looked at the place he assumed where Gwen slept. But... he couldn’t bring himself to disrupt their sleep, especially his friend’s. She needed the rest and he refused to take that away from her. Plus, the thing’s just standing there. David frowned and looked back.

He was still there, unmoving.

Yeah, nope. This is too suspicious. He scrambled back down and tried to locate Gwen. After several attempts, he shook her awake. She groaned and David feared for a second that the virus managed to spread to her in her sleep. But when she voiced out her concern, the brunette vanquished the thought.

“Um, something’s not right,” he mumbled. He brought her to the window to show the odd corpse who just stood there. He felt a yawn escape him and he didn’t manage to contain it anymore.

“You need some sleep,” Gwen said, patting him on his shoulder. “Thanks for letting me rest,” she sat beside him.

“It’s nothing. You’d do the same,” David replied. He turned back to the window to point out the reason for waking her up, but words failed him. He stared unblinkingly at the spot the figure once occupied. He was gone.

“What is it?” Gwen prodded. His silence bothered her, but the disappearing act bothered him more. He swore that thing refused to move. Did he imagine everything? Impossible. There was no room for imagination at a dangerous time like this.

“I thought I saw someone standing there. He didn’t move. He just stood there and watched our cabin,” he explained. When Gwen looked outside, he sighed. “He’s not there anymore. I don’t think I imagined it. It’s better to be cautious, right?” He asked then stood up to get a bigger view of the forest. The corpses still passed, but none of them was the odd creature that stood before the cabin.

“There was something on his neck too,” he added slowly. When his friend looked at him questioningly, he raised his hand and sort of gestured a clamping motion. “The neck looked like something was choking it. A collar?” His face scrunched up in thought. Gwen nodded and kept an eye out. He found his designated mat on the floor and sleep hit him fast.

. . . . .

When David woke up the next day, the cabin wasn’t dark anymore and sun shone through the cracks. Some of the kids were awake and eating from cans. Gwen scrambled up when she saw him open his eyes. He was handed their packed food from the day before and he immediately gobbled it up.

“Morning, David,” came a sleepy voice. Space Kid smiled at him. He smiled and greeted back. Once breakfast was done and they all fixed themselves up, David wore his olive green parka over his dark t-shirt and approached Gwen. She was fiddling with the loopholes of her jeans.

“How was last night?” he asked.

“Nothing came up. Just the usual,” she sighed and swept her brown hair into a tight ponytail. She brushed her bangs away from her eyes. “The thing is, a group of them stayed over. The horde’s gone but some lingered.” David watched as she checked herself. Her hands brushed over her machete and her head snapped to the window.

“You down for taking out some trash?” she smiled at him mischievously. David reciprocated the smile. He headed back to grab his bat and they watched from the window. They counted the heads and formulated a plan to stay close to each other. Don’t stray. Don’t go after them once they’re out of the area. And don’t hesitate to kill.

Together, they walked out the cabin, making sure to close the door behind them to keep the kids safe. They moved as one. In a fluid motion, Gwen was the first to swing and take down one of the undead. They were slow in reacting so by the time David swung his bat, three of them were down.

Gwen panted alongside him as she hacked at their bloody faces, aiming for the necks and the heads. They had no room for missed shots. They swung and battered the corpses. David stumbled back when he saw another one come out from behind a tree, but quickly composed himself and got back on his feet.

Without knowing it, he slowly separated from Gwen. There was no room mistakes too. He can’t turn his back on them once they’ve spotted him. So he moved forward. David was panting hard and quietly revelled in his work. Nobody else came for him. No one in sight.

He was ready to turn back and make his way to Gwen but something stopped him. His bat was resting on his shoulder when he caught sight of white. It was in his peripheral vision and he quickly turned to the direction. There was another figure close by. He wasn’t alive, he was infected. His dirty white jeans looked like they’ve been dragged on the ground; his bloodied white polo indicated the location of the bite. His skin still glowed and David wondered how long since this person had been bitten.

His eyes settled on the silver collar around his neck. It was chained and he saw it reach the ground. This is him. This is the man who stood before their cabin that night. Until now, he made no move to come forward.

His grip on his bat tightened. Then the figure moved back into the trees and disappeared. _No_. He can’t let this one go. He looked over his shoulder, praying to anyone out there that Gwen doesn’t kill him when he gets back. He runs quickly to the place he last saw him and there he was, taking slow and sure footsteps away from him. But David’s boots were loud against the crunching leaves and this made the thing look up.

Again, he did not move forward like the other corpses did. He didn’t crave to eat and bite and maul him. He observed, and David observed back. Something was wrong with him. He circled the man in white, taking note of his dry blonde hair and the striking blue eyes that followed his movements. In the past two weeks, he has never seen an infected person stand steadily. They constantly moved and swayed. They didn’t stand in one place for too long looking at cabins at night. This one looked like he had a mind of his own.

“Jesus, you creep me out,” David said to no one in particular. He readied his bat as he circled him. The figure followed him with his eyes. Then he did something David didn’t think the undead could do. He responded to him by tilting his head.

He froze in his tracks and stared at him with wide eyes. He responded to him. That was not something people could do once the virus took them. He knew. Before he and Gwen found each other, Darla tried to communicate with them. She wanted to see if they understood and can respond beyond the infection. Maybe there was still something human beneath all of that.

But every time she opened her mouth, she failed. Darla never quit. She talked to them and David honestly thought she was going crazy. None of them gave any signs of responding.

Until now.

He was brought back to reality when the man slowly made his way to him. David’s eyes hardened and he lifted his bat menacingly. Again, he was surprised when the man’s eyes followed the bat. He saw him stop and David was seriously having a panic attack right now. He shouldn’t be able to comprehend his actions. He shouldn’t be so... observant. The corpse kept walking. David lowered the bat and felt his resolution crumble.

For the entire time, the figure did not outstretch his arms. They stayed locked on his sides. Usually, the infected would reach out to their prey. This one didn’t—another thing that surprised David.

Common sense flooded him when the man was within reaching distance and he brought up his bat. He saw the other flinch unexpectedly, but the brunette did not swing. He placed the bat between them and pointed it at the other’s chest. The man clad in white seemed to relax before walking up to the point of the bat. He didn’t move closer.

David gulped as he watched him stand several feet away from him. Every molecule in his being screamed at him to run—to swing his weapon and get away from this situation. The way the other looked at him gave him a weird feeling in his stomach. He made up his mind. As long as the other didn’t move, he wouldn’t attack.

And that was the stupidest decision David made.

They shared a minute of staring at the other. David was as still as a rock. He felt his face heat up when he realized this person actually once looked good—attractive, even. Smooth, masculine jaw and a firm chest. His blonde hair was styled in a way that accentuated his face. And his eyes... Upon closer inspection, the man’s blue eyes had the same intensity as Gwen’s violet eyes.

He didn’t stand idly like he thought he would. He too was examining David like a specimen. David stepped back in shock. His eyes flitted to the bat when he saw the other reach up and hold it.

“What the h—“ his gaze shut him up. The figure turned his head slowly to his left. David, although hesitantly, followed the direction and he felt fear crawling up his throat. There were more of them. The shambling lot of them weren’t too far. If he swung now, the commotion will attract their attention.

He turned back to the man in front of him. He can’t comprehend the look he was giving him. Did he plan this all along? Did he intend to lure him out here to get his friends a buffet? This was the smartest one David has met ever since the spread began. But if so, why hasn’t the figure moved to get their attention? Instead, David’s breath hitched when his hands slowly forced David to lower the bat. He was more shocked when his dirty hands made their way up David’s arms and shirt.

He made a mistake. He let his guard down and now he was getting punished. He should’ve swung when he had the chance.

But the man did not bury his teeth into him. He rubbed his hands across his arms, smudging them with dirt and dried blood in the process. David cringed, feeling all sorts of terrified at the moment. He watched him smudge dirt onto his parka and his shirt. He stared at this being’s eyes. They weren’t focused on him like a hunter relishing its prey.

Then his hands came up to his face and David’s insides froze over. The being in front of him rubbed his thumb across his cheek and David’s nose twitched at the foul smell he was putting on him. His eyes lit up when something crossed his mind. Was he being coated in his scent? In movies, the survivors coated themselves in decaying blood to trick the undead into thinking they were like them. Most of the time, it worked.

Was that what this man was doing? David’s mind whirled with thoughts. He can’t believe his eyes. Then the man let go of him. With unsteady hands, the corpse reached for the chain that connected to his collar and offered it to him.

Oh boy, David was having weird thoughts. His face heated up when the man stared at him almost pleadingly. The crunching leaves stole his attention from him and he nearly shrieked. The group of them were in the area. They seemed to be walking towards them, but their focus wasn’t on David. He took the chain reluctantly and the man looked physically relieved. David didn’t know the cause for this relief but as the others neared them, he felt his flight or fight response act up.

He raised his bat. But the other was quick to move it down. David’s eyes whipped to the other. He was quick like he knew David’s reaction. He stared fearfully at him and momentarily got lost in his blue pupils. He was rendered speechless when he saw the power beyond his gaze. This was not an ordinary infected person. All the corpses he has seen never showed signs of life—of any trace of humanity. But this one proved him otherwise. It was there, flickering and fading, but so recognizably there.

It wasn’t until he blinked did he realize the group of living corpses were right there. He completely went brain dead when he has having a stare down with the man in front of him. That’s not something he’ll ever do in his lifetime again. His muscles went lax when he realized he was not in immediate danger. They didn’t go for him. The undead beings walked past them, he and this... creature. This man.

If the man were alive right now, David was sure he’d be looking smugly at him. As if he had something to prove. The chain felt heavy in his hand and he gulped. The group cleared and they walked far off in the distance. It was just him and this peculiar being that’s left.

Two things crossed David’s mind at the moment. One, what in heaven’s name just happened?

Two, dear God, Gwen was going to kill him for ignoring their rules.


	3. Fortify

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took quite a while to make. S c h o o l. Anyway, this fic is actually turning out pretty good? Hopefully I don't get too attached though. It's a bad thing getting attached .__.  
> OKAY. Onto the story!

The only logical reaction to everything that’s happened was to run. David’s feet betrayed his thoughts. It’s not the first time fear froze him in place. In fact, he should be immune to the feeling by now, considering the countless times he’s been victimized by it. But no, it still happened. And David’s stomach did backflips.

“Um, am I supposed to thank you?” The chain in his hand doubled the weight on him. The air between them suffocated David. It was the most awkward situation he ever found himself in. He let out a tense breath when he accepted the fact that this one didn’t plan on infecting him anytime soon. There’s something in his actions that seemed almost graceful. He moved slowly but also precisely. He had no interest in biting David.

Of course, the man in front of him only stared at him. He can’t formulate words, much less reply verbally. His eyebrows moved the tiniest bit, like he was trying to form a certain face. _Duh, I just saved your life_ , it seemed to say. David’s heart rate sped up. This being is certainly different from the others. This discovery scared him. He needs to tell Gwen.

“Um, thanks for doing this—“ the brunette gestured to his clothes that were smudged with dirt, “it's-uh, it really helped,” he stuttered. What does one say to a dead person after said person helps you from becoming human lunch? His hand slowly drops the chain and sees him watching, eyes following the motion.

“I... um,” why did he feel nervous all of a sudden? His conscience prevented him from leaving the man who just helped him. It would be a rude thing to do, despite the circumstance. “I really have to go back. My friend might be worried sick,” he stepped backward and waited for a reaction. The blonde’s gaze never left him. He felt a chill up his spine. Despite his help, he was still wary of the other.

He surprised David more times than any ordinary corpse could in a day. Nobody can blame him for putting his guard up, even after putting it down dangerously around a threat. He keeps walking backward until he’s sure there’s enough space between them, and he turns and runs back to the cabin. The area was cleared thanks to Gwen, but she was nowhere in sight. When he neared, he looked around for any sign that she’d been taken away by force. He rounded a corner and stilled as a machete halted in mid-air in front of him.

“Oh my god, David! You’re alive!” He was tackled backwards when Gwen launched herself at him. They hugged briefly. Then the full force of her hand hit him square in the cheek. He has no time to recover before being pelted by Gwen’s ranting.

“You completely ignored everything I told you!” and “You could’ve been dead for all I know!” and “Don’t stray off like that. If something happens to us, there’s no going back to undo it.” Her shoulders drooped and David felt the crushing guilt suffocate him as tears rolled down her cheek. He opened his mouth to say something—anything, but Gwen angrily wiped them away.

“I’m sorry,” came his meek reply. Her hardened gaze on him softened.

She laid a hand on his parka, running over the dry blood stains. She yanked him forward and thoroughly inspected his arms and shirt. David had no idea how to explain everything that happened, but he reassured her 200% that he was unharmed. She checked him a second time. She relaxed when David was true to his words. The duo started walking back, leaving the bloody mess behind them.

“You’re going to have to wash that up,” Gwen threw over her shoulder as they entered the cabin. She removed her fingerless gloves and fixed her hair again. The kids threw him suspicious glances but after clarifying that he was definitely not bitten, they let it go.

“There’s actually a lake close by. You could wash up there,” Max offered. “In fact, Neil and I were talking about setting up some defenses. There’s another cabin out there, near the lake. We tried opening it but it’s locked,” Max shoved his hands in his hoodie. That sounds like a plan. He and Gwen could clear the area and maybe make this Camp Campbell place worth living in. He turns to her to see her reaction and was glad to see the smile on her face.

“Then let’s get going, shall we?” They brought their weapons with them. No matter the occasion, they should always be prepared for a fight. It’ll cost them their lives someday. They divided the group into two with Gwen leading Neil and Preston while David stayed with Max and Space Kid. His friend suggested they check out the cabin and see if he can get it do open. She volunteered to help Neil with setting up their makeshift fence.

David took in their surroundings and was fairly surprised he hadn’t noticed it before. The lake’s water sparkled. He was afraid to scoop it up and taint it with his dirty hands. But the smell was starting to get to him so he sat and splashed water on his face. He scrubbed his arms raw to get rid of the decaying scent. His shirt was a goner, unless he took the time to launder it by the lake. He remembers their task at hand and made quick work of himself. Soon, he was brushing back his damp auburn hair and relishing the cool air that hit his face.

“I can’t believe we just watched you take a bath,” Max groaned from behind.

“The water must be so nice,” Space Kid gushed. Once David stood and grabbed his bat, the kids were on their feet. They trailed beside him as they neared the cabin. He tried the door for luck but it didn’t budge. They circled the cabin until he found a window. He peered inside and sighed in relief when there were no present decaying bodies inside like he expected. He swung his bat and flinched as glass shards flew. The kids kept their distance and David inspected himself for any damage.

“Why didn’t we do that sooner?” Max facepalmed. David climbed in carefully, avoiding the sharp glass and made his way to the door. He let the kids in and they all stood in wonder. The cabin had two bunk beds, a desk, and a closet. David didn’t need anyone to remind him to keep his guard up. He approached the closet with careful steps but relaxed when there was no threat inside. Instead, in folded heaps, there were green shirts. They looked dusty and David flipped one over.

The shirt had a dark green pine tree logo on the front. He shrugged and decided to keep it. He could change into it later after he cleans his shirt by the lake. He grabs one for Gwen too—and maybe the rest of them. The group went back and forth as they deposited things they found in the mess hall. David figured it was risky to separate the group so he pulled the dusty mattresses off the bunk beds and placed them on the mess hall’s floor. The desk and the metal frames, he left in the cabin. There wasn’t much in the drawers except a couple useless receipts and a candy wrapper.

They ended up disposing the corpses when the smell started to get around. David pulled on their lifeless bodies and dumped them somewhere decently far from them. He had to knock out two more when they came across his path. _Deep breaths_ , he always reminded himself.

Gwen's group wasn't done yet when David and the kids finished arranging the mattresses on the floor and stealing the shirts from the closet. They laundered the shirts they’ve been wearing since the outbreak began and occasionally glanced behind their shoulders in case of any.. unwanted guests.

The tension seemed to dissipate when Space Kid splashed into the water. He pulled Max in as the boy screamed profanities at him. Space Kid was undeterred. After reassuring himself that the area was clear and putting his bat within reaching distance, David climbed in after them. He took the opportunity to properly clean himself and rid himself of the scent of death.

They changed into the matching green tees they found in the cabin. It took Max a couple convincing before finally letting go of his yellow shirt, albeit begrudgingly. A moment of silence passed before they laughed at how ridiculous they all looked. It looked as if David were a camp counselor ready to lead a bunch of campers.

It certainly looked that way when he passed by Gwen's group with Max and Space Kid in tow. To say that he found Gwen's jaw-dropping astonished expression hilarious was an understatement.

"My god, you look like you're about to lead the dorkiest army on earth." She deadpanned. Preston looked at them in awe. Neil made a face at them.

"Where can I get one? I want in! We can wear matching shirts and start a revolution!" The boy pumped his fist, abandoning Gwen and Neil. Gwen exaggerated a pained expression and placed a hand over her heart.

"Abandoning your mates. Have you stooped so low, Preston?" David gave her credit for her acting. It's not every day he saw her playing along.

"I'm sorry, Gwen dear. You may be cold in my professions, warm in my friendships. But I am not throwing away my shot!" exclaimed Preston as he joined David's side.

Gwen dropped the act, seemingly unable to catch up to him. Max offers to help Neil and Gwen set up a barrier–which is currently made up of more steel wire and rope. They were putting it around the tree trunks and looping it around the next tree. Honestly, David thought it silly and didn't provide him any reassuring thoughts that this could stop the living dead. But.. it's better than nothing.

They gave Preston a shirt and helped Gwen and Neil set up their barrier for the rest of the day. They worked nonstop and double-checked to check the tautness. With the adults' help, they were able to tighten the rope and wire around the trunks. Neil explained that, at least for the meanwhile, the rope will hinder the undead from walking accidentally into their camp. Max brought up the idea that they might crouch and crawl in. But at the time, they were all too exhausted to double their defenses. David could tell the gears in Neil's head were working when they gathered back in the mess hall to quench their hunger.

"Will wood fortify our defenses?" Max absentmindedly picked at his canned food.

"Typical resources. Wood will be efficient if we chopped the trees and cut them into pieces." Neil mumbled under his breath. "But should we sharpen them like spears? I saw it work in a TV show once. That'll take up too much time–assuming we're even able to cut down trees." Neil rubbed his face.

The kids were bickering over ideas when Gwen sat down beside David on the floor. He smiled when he saw she changed into the green shirt. "Don't say a word," she deadpanned. "I look stupid."

"What does that make me?" David laughed. He received a long look from her. He had a feeling Gwen was stifling her insults.

He cleared his throat and watched the kids from the end of the room. He can tell Gwen’s about to give him a scolding for what he’s done earlier that day. _I mean, even I would punch myself in the face_ , came his thoughts. David has been breaking rules lately—which is never a good sign. He’s lived up to this day because he’s been following the rules his friend laid out for both of them. Will he continue risking every second of his life just to satisfy his curiosity? He’s been told he acts out of a superman complex, but sometimes even David needs saving from himself.

“You wanna tell me what made you stray off like that?” She picked on the frayed ends of her jeans, seemingly concerned and annoyed with him at the same time.

“I do. I think I’m becoming delusional,” he gulped. He recounts the whole thing to her in detail, watching her expression. She still had a look on her face that screams “ _you seriously eff’ed up, David. And now I have to sit here and listen to you like the good friend I am_ ”. He mentions his encounter with a particular corpse and suddenly, she’s all wide-eyed.

“You’re telling me,” she started. “That the guy you saw the other night may or may not have recognized you through the window,” David winced, nodding. “And he... didn’t bite your head off. I mean—he helped you,” she looked at him warily, as if clarifying what he’s told her.

“Yup,”

“I’m honestly not sure what to say, David,” she said, “either you _are_ delusional, or the infected are slowly becoming smarter than we thought they’d be. And that’s a whole lot scarier,” a shiver went down their spine. If the virus in their brain—hypothetically speaking if this virus was a living entity—somehow managed to understand and adapt to their surroundings, then they’ll be in big trouble.

Silence stretched between them, the direness of their situation settling on their shoulders. The kids have decided to crawl onto their mattresses, leaving one bed empty for the adults. David was envious of how these kids could sleep so soundly. They had nothing to worry about; they had adults who’ll protect them. Their lives rested on David and Gwen, which doubled the weight on them. They were the only hope left of humanity. Youth meant a chance of prolonging their existence—of humans who aren’t infected. Who knows, maybe the next generation could be exposed to said infection and be immune to it. But that was just David’s wishful thinking.

“You go on ahead,” David found himself offering to take the first watch. But after recent events, Gwen gave him a reasonable look of disbelief.

“You’re fucking with me,” she said. “David, I think you should rest. I don’t mean to sound like a dick but, I can’t trust you to your own devices.” She got up. “What if something went wrong and you...” she trailed off, knowing she’s done enough to belittle him. David looks down to hide the shame evident in his face. He knew full well that he could screw up anytime. Gwen was only looking out for them.

But something told him to fight back. He won’t screw up this time.

“It’s okay, Gwen. Really,” he stood up as well. “I won’t do anything that’ll potentially harm any of us,” he looked around at the peaceful sleeping faces and felt his heart twist. These children don’t deserve to be put in this horrible situation. Nobody did.

“I got this,” he looks at her dead on and refuses to look away. Gwen challenged back but a yawn escaped her. “Look,” he softens up. “I promise I’ll wake you at the first sign of danger. I won’t go out on my own or do anything that’ll attract attention.” He looks out the window and sees no more than three corpses walking. The other one was a silhouette in the distance.

He looks back and he almost jumps out of his skin when Gwen’s machete is pointed right at him. She looks down on him from the end of the blade, calculating eyes and a frown marring her face. She maneuvers it toward her and is now offering it to him by the handle.

“Just in case a little threat managed to come by and you couldn’t help yourself,” she said, lowering it on his shaky hands. “It’s a lot easier to use than your bat. Lighter, sharper, kills quicker,” she mumbles. He accepts the machete like a blessing and stares at her dumbfounded.

“Goodnight, David.” She turns and heads for their mattress. He watches her from across the room, wondering what made Gwen summon that kind of courage to part with her weapon. The man feels a sort of pride swell within him. Gwen still trusts him. After everything.

So he grabbed a chair they moved in from earlier and faces the window. He’s going to keep an eye out and not do anything stupid. Not go out into the woods at night. Not fulfil his urge to run away, anywhere, that could provide a safer abode than this. He’s going to sit and do his job.

And wait he did. He fiddled with the blade, careful not to get cut. But as hours ticked by and the familiar lull of the darkness enveloped him, the brunette was blinking himself awake. He couldn't help the heavy lids that yearned to close for the night, but he fought to stay awake. In his state, David felt like he was half-dreaming.

_'Darla was nursing her wounded knee. She claims she got scrapped up while they were being chased. That would explain the thump! he heard when they were running and the voice from behind him calling out "I'm fine, keep going!". They rounded a corner and crawled behind an overturned car. They waited as three people ran by, guns in the air and yelling obscenities._

_A week has passed and the virus isn't the only thing people are afraid of anymore—loss of supplies, territory. They have broken their unity in fear for their own safety. It didn't take long for the assholes to start showing up. They were usually the ones holding a gun threatening to shoot anything that moves. He and Darla had been lucky to escape these lunatics._

_"Are you sure you're okay?" David crawled toward her, looking at the small cut on her knee. She hissed as she tried to cover it with her hands. David insists they wrap it up, even if it was small. He tears up his sleeve, folds it, and ties it around Darla’s knee. The space between them was filled with bated breaths—and on Darla’s part, unspoken words. When the man finished up with the makeshift bandage, the girl held onto his wrist fast before he could back away._

_Shocked, he looks straight up at her. It looked like she wanted to say something. Her mouth opened and closed like she contemplated saying something yet she formed no words—but her eyes were intense. She looked deep into his eyes, silently communicating. But David can’t understand what she was asking for, until she leaned in and almost closed the distance when David backed away in panic. He hit the wall hard. He rubbed a sore spot on his head and couldn’t focus on what Darla was saying. She seemed to be explaining herself and showing concern for him all at once. It was an awkward experience none of them mentioned of ever again, but David knew there was something more to her concerned looks and prolonged physical contact. Then Gwen came along and David noticed Darla distancing herself.'_

"Hm?" David jolted awake, shaking his head to rattle the sleepy spirit within him.

Looking around, he remembers he's tasked to keep an eye out. His attention is brought to the window when a soft tapping emanated from the glass. A silhouette of a man showed through the slits of the boards. David stands up immediately, almost knocking the chair back. He looks around, down at the kids, and sighs when they’re all sleeping.

The tapping doesn’t stop. He carefully approaches the window, machete in hand and gait wavering. The tapping on glass synced with the pumping of his anxious heart. Once David nears the window, he can make out the unmistakeable blue eyes looking back at him from the other side. He almost drops the machete in fright, the same time the tapping stops.

 _It can’t be_ , he repeated over and over. He took a step back. His eyes never left the silhouette. Their camp was fenced with rope. Granted, they could crawl in, but not if these things found nothing interesting to go after. It was a weak theory and they have yet to test it.

This one managed to get in. And getting this close to the window meant he easily avoided the trip wires too. If the tapping meant anything, did that mean he knew David was awake? The ceasing of it clearly means he’s already seen him. He stands there, in front of him with only glass and wooden boards separating them.

“This is so insane,” David mumbles under his breath, looking at the man outside and at the door to their cabin. It’s locked, but that didn’t give him any sense of security. Surely, this man wants something. He isn’t like the corpses he saw the other day, or the last. He wasn’t like any of them except his inability to speak. The brunette steps forward again, coming close to the window. The man watches him closely from their distance. Goosebumps run up his arm.

Close enough to reach through the glass if he wanted, but he doesn’t. David squints at him. A compelling thought enters his brain. _Go outside and talk to him_.

He wants to tell himself it’s to put an end to this weirdness. He wants to tell himself it’s to make him feel comfortable without having this one weird zombie—okay, he finally caved in—follow him around.

He walks to the door.

He wants to tell himself it’s to put Gwen’s machete to good use.

He puts a hand on the chain wrapped around the door’s handles.

He wants to tell himself it’s _really nothing_ and will not put anyone’s lives in danger.

He hesitates, looks back and is relieved to see the silhouette still there. He hasn’t moved.

He wants to tell himself... but he can’t. He’s a curious individual who will stop at nothing to get his answers. He unchains the door, closes it behind him and walks out with a different objective in mind. The crunching of his boots on the ground resonates in the quiet area. The brunette tightens his grip on the machete as he tells himself to stay calm. He rounds the corner where the window should be facing.

The man is gone.


	4. Bond

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "One-shot", she says. "It'll be short", she says.  
> Never trust me with things like that. I swear, most of my smol promises are like...empty. But anyway! Diarrhea's been a bitch. My time's occupied with script writing for school projects. And yeah, yay! More stuff! Don't get too attached cause hMM.  
> Or shall I change up the ending to a happy one as a Christmas gift to y'all? :O Decisions, decisions.  
> Also um, incoming sort of necro fluff?? IDK MAN

David swivels around in one place, machete held up in defense. His frantic gaze touched every square inch of the forest. It’s impossible to calm his nerves when he could be human dinner at that moment. He's telling himself to be ready for any incoming attacks. There’s no way for that man to be quiet in an area like this. He must've slipped away when David opened the door and walked out.

But why disappear all of a sudden?

Maybe that was it. Maybe he did want to eat David and he was smarter among the rest. He lured him in with kindness, visited him to drive him insane, and now he's baited him into his trap. David held his breath in, waiting for his ears to pick up on any foreign sound.

He squints at the darkness. Nothing. The best way to handle this is to go back to their cabin, secure their door with more than just a chain, and wake Gwen up. He should not pursue this mystery man. David sucked at following rules, even his own. He roamed around the cabin slowly, making sure to inspect every inch in front of him to prepare himself for a surprise attack.

It’s not until he did a 180 around the cabin did he spot him. He stood idly as if he was patiently waiting for David to round the corner. The blonde didn’t move. Neither did David, so he stayed where he was, holding the machete. Seconds ticked by where they stood like statues. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of David’s forehead. _This is ridiculous_ , he thought as they both had a stare down.

“Um, why are you back here?” He asked. David wanted to smack himself in the face. The heat in his face bloomed with every awkward second that passed.

The blonde man looked down, unsure and lost. Didn’t he understand David? He looks back up and slowly offers up the chain to him again. Just like that morning. David gulps, looking around like this was all a joke and someone was watching this spectacle play out. He saw no ill intention on the other’s face. David gripped his machete, feeling his resolve break.

“Why aren’t you uh,” he stuttered, “why aren’t you biting me or anything?” He wanted the ground to open up and eat him alive. _Holy moly, is this for real?_ David chanted in his head. He felt embarrassed in front of someone who could kill him in any second but chooses not to. Technically, David could kill him first ‘cause he was armed but for some reason, he can’t find it in himself to be the merciless killer Gwen taught him to be.

The other man unrelentingly offered the chain. Dropping the machete, David strode toward him and took the chain. He raised his weapon and pointed it at the other’s neck, scared he’d launch at him the moment he came close. Instead, he saw the other stiffen visibly—a human reaction to fear. It was the reaction David was looking for. No corpse would react to being threatened. This man was very much alive, but somehow still infected.

“How are you... like this?” David asked, concern lacing his voice. He never knew what it felt for those who succumbed to the infection. The bite, he was sure that did more than sting. It _hurt_. But afterwards, what became of the people? Did the life leave their bodies as the virus took hold?

Or were they still there?

This man could be the answer to his questions. If these people were still alive but being unwillingly controlled, they had a chance. If there was a cure, they could bring them back! It could undo the apocalypse!

It was wishful thinking and he knew it. All the corpses they came by didn’t have a beating heart anymore. It was just the virus thriving within them now. But this one... this one’s still fighting for control.

Even if they _were_ alive, they’ve killed a lot already. Those lost to the virus end up roaming the streets or getting beheaded. There’s no way to undo the massacre conducted to save their lives. David had no ounce of guilt killing more just to save Gwen’s life or the kids. It was either them or him. Kill or get killed.

But not _him_ , supplied the voice in his head, only because this peculiar guy seems to be different from the others. Unusual thoughts slithered into his head. Is he basically half-human? Did he still feel and comprehend and love and hurt?

David wraps the chain around his hand, pulling the man closer to him and his blade. He lowers the machete once the other is a foot from him. He’s holding the chain tightly behind his neck, restraining any movement should the man make any sudden attacks towards him. Better safe than sorry. He squints at him and takes in the other’s face. Deathly pale for sure, but upon closer inspection, David almost laughs at how similar their hair is styled—only it fit David better, he thinks egoistically. They were even almost the same height.

“Can you hear me?” He tests out. He can see amusement flicker in the blonde’s blue eyes and how his lips twitch to a smirk. David breathes out excitedly and lets out the biggest smile. He was communicating with the dead. _Sort of_ dead. Undead?

“Oh my god, you can,” he feels hysterical laughter bubble up from his throat, but he forces it down. The forest is too quiet. Being loud meant attracting unwanted guests.

“Wow, what the—I don’t know what to say,” he looks around, then back at the man. There on his lips was a perfectly executed smile no corpse has ever done. Yeah, nope. Not entirely dead yet. This man was alive and gosh, he looked more human than ever. David notices he’s been staring at his lips for too long and quickly looks back up, avoiding another awkward situation he did _not_ want to be put in.

 _But wait_. He looks back down again unabashedly. The man’s mouth had not been covered with blood. Hasn’t he eaten anyone—or anything recently? He asked shamelessly in his head. _It’s normal to be curious!_ He reasoned. Did corpses need to eat to stay the way they are? Or was eating a past time? He surely didn’t look like he’s been getting anything to eat.

In fact, he didn’t look as disheveled as the others. The only thing tainting him was the dark splotch of dried blood on his white polo’s sleeve and the dirt on his jeans. Besides that, he looked pretty much intact. David’s mind went back to the figure he saw coming towards them with a gnarled face and he shivered.

The man in front of him tilted his head in an act of confusion. David had been quiet and the other must’ve known something was on his mind. “Sorry, I was just thinking,” he mumbled. With their distance, he’s pretty sure the other could hear him even as he talked under his breath. He unwinds the chain from his hand and backs away. He doesn’t let go of the chain just yet.

“Y’know, it’d be nice if you had a name,” he found himself saying. His blue eyes widened a fraction. Was he really befriending a corpse? Before David could open his mouth, he heard the loud snap of their trip wire activate. “Fuck!” a foreign voice cried out. David turned his head to the direction the sound came from. His ears strained to hear more. Without letting the chain go, he tiptoed backwards until his back hit the wall of their cabin. The collared man followed just as quietly.

“What are those things?” another voice said.

“An alarm system, dumbass,” the same man who cursed out replied. “There might be people inside,” he said.

The brunette fails to make out the words they exchanged. He saunters slowly from the other side of the cabin, careful to mute his footfalls. These could be dangerous people with dangerous intents and he was pretty much outnumbered at the moment.

“… inside there?” the voices came closer. David edges closer but halts when the chain pulled taut. He looks back at the other. “What are you doing?” he mouthed silently. The man stood there and refused to move. David pulls on the chain again but the man doesn’t budge. He shakes his head no.

“Dear gosh,” he mutters under his breath and reluctantly lets go of the chain. He didn’t need him tagging along. He puts a machete between them just in case he tries anything funny. The other man backs away instead, giving him one long look in the eye before disappearing behind the corner of the cabin. David’s heart rate picked up. _Where’s he going?_ His attention was brought back to the intruders when the two men’s bickering became loud enough. He froze on instinct. They were right there.

“Looks cozy enough,” the other man said. His voice sounded uncertain. “What if there are other survivors in here?”

“Fuck it, I say. We’ll just have to break in,” said his partner, chuckling horrendously, “and take it from them.” David’s face contorts into horror. These men didn’t want to negotiate. These are monsters who stole from others and we’re happy to leave other survivors with nothing else—and David’s not about to stand by and let them take what’s theirs.

Merciless. _Be the merciless killer you’re taught to be_. “Do you want us to die?!” A flashback of Gwen holding his face with trembling hands came to him. She had angry tears running down her face as she stared into David’s terrified pair of eyes. Their escape hadn’t gone unnoticed and his former companion—Darla—clearly bitten and far gone is now coming after them. Right behind her was Cameron. They were backed up in an alleyway and Gwen was pushing him to face his fears. Long story short, something snapped inside of him when he saw Darla’s lifeless eyes; how he didn’t want this suffering for her. He didn’t want it for anyone. He swung his weapon like a madman.

Back in the present, he takes a shuddering breath in after that short memory. Summoning all the courage he needs and remembering to put up his walls, he steps aside and swings the machete with all he’s got. He’s given a few seconds view of the two adult men who stood in front of their door, one holding a club and the other... a gun.

David’s weapon catches the man holding the club in the shoulder. The man yowls and stumbles, dropping the club in his surprise. The other man backs away and is fumbling to put the gun up. David kicks the club away and zeroes in on the gun before another figure beats him to it. David spares a second of shock as he sees the familiar outline of his… friend. Blonde hair, striking blue eyes, and terrifying strength he didn’t know the other possessed.

He pulls the man backwards, effectively making him drop the gun, and sinks his teeth deep into his shoulder. He snakes a hand around the man’s mouth, successfully muffling out his dying screams. The blonde’s eyes were feral and something about him looked different from the other corpses when they attacked. Proven so when he tears out a chunk of flesh from the poor man beneath him and he _spits it out_. David wonders why for a second then freezes when his blue eyes land on him. _Oh, right. Unfinished business_.

David returns to the older man slumped on the floor, clutching his shoulder and pathetically reaching for his weapon. “Who the hell do you think you are?” The man spat out. David kicks the club further and places his boot on his hand, threatening to crush it. His own hands turn clammy. He could never do it, but it helped to put up a false bravado.

“The owner of this camp,” he swallows, glaring down at him. “Who do you think you are, intruding here and doing things as you please?” He frowns when the other man shows no signs of apologizing. His glare hardens when the other man mirrors his gaze.

“I’m the man who’s going to take what you’ve got. Scared yet, little boy?” He laughs darkly and before David could react, the older man pulls out his hand from beneath him and tackles him to the floor. In his shock, he falls and lets go of the machete. The two of them wrestle on the ground, David blocking the hits the man showered upon him. Sensing a pattern to his hits, he lands a blow when he found an opening and catches him by the middle. With the weight off him, he scrambles to get the machete just in time to see him coming for him. He pulls back and with all he’s got, plunges the weapon forward.

 _Rip_. Straight through the man’s stomach. His hands never made it around David’s neck. Caught up in the action, it takes a second for him to register that they weren’t alone. Another figure jumps from behind him and David is taken aback, watching as a corpse tore into the poor man. Blood spills forth from his open wounds and it cascades down his body. The brunette looks around in panic, knowing the commotion must’ve brought enough attention to them. The infected were trudging towards them.

He yelps when he feels someone tug on his sleeve. It was his friend. He looks very distraught and seemed to be urging him to move. The man motions to the forest, a clear pathway for them, and looks at David expectantly. They had to move now but he promised not to leave the others.

A corpse barely manages to catch him by the elbow. David lands a blow to his neck and retreats fast. He bangs a fist on their door. “Gwen, wake up! Lock the door. Whatever you do, don’t go out. I’ll lead them away!” after snatching the chain from the blonde, they both make a run for it.

David hopes Gwen and the kids will be okay. He curses as he passes by the gun and drills it into his head to snatch it up when they come back. He manages to dodge a couple more of them. The blonde is surprisingly keeping up with him. He wonders what might’ve happened if they got off on a bad start.

David wouldn’t be alive right now, that’s for sure.

They keep running and David makes sure to get their attention to lead them away from camp. The duo runs into the forest, dim but the moonlight providing them the outline of their path. They run for a long while, unsure of the time but David knew it’ll be hours before the sun rose. His heart pounded with every step away from their camp. It ached to be away from Gwen but he knew he was doing this to save them.

A few hours ago, he thought he’ll never see those blue eyes and matted blonde hair anymore. He didn’t think he’d be putting his life at risk by teaming up with the man as they ran for their lives. Correction, his life. The man was already infected, but who knew what a second bite will do to him? Did corpses bite other corpses? They slow down after a measureable distance and almost sigh in relief when they spot a cave nearby. He feels his guard go up when he realizes it may not be unoccupied. Thankfully his friend senses this and goes in first, scouting around while David waited at the opening. It seemed like a convenient hiding spot—too convenient.

A small thought occurs to him as he’s catching his breath. If there were others who ran as fast as that half-corpse, humanity is most definitely _eff’ed_.

The familiar set of blonde hair pops out and signals him it’s safe. He inspects the cave and feels dread settle on the pit of his stomach. It was pitch black. From a few blocks away, his eye catches the silhouette of other figures. His hand blindly reaches for the chain connected to the man’s collar and wraps it around his hand. He enters with reluctance and hides as the corpses shamble away.

David sits on the cold hard ground, breathing hard and letting the events of today catch up to him. Guilt ate at him unceasingly as he thinks of the danger he put the camp through. He hopes Gwen woke up in time to heed his warning. He hopes Gwen’s there to clean up his mess. He lets his tears choke him as he sobs in the dark cave.

It wasn’t until cold arms wrap around him did he remember he was not alone. He flinches at his friend’s attempt at comfort and tenses when he puts his cheek on David’s shoulder. The fabric of his shirt turns damp from the blood dripping off of the man’s mouth. That’s right. He tore into his victim’s flesh. David is suddenly filled with the urge to _back away now!_ But every fiber in his being reasoned not to. If he wanted to kill him, he could’ve done it before. He had every chance to yet, here’s David, very much alive and not infected.

The blonde takes his hand and lifts it so that the palm is facing upwards. The brunette waits with strained calmness as his fingers meet his palm. He’s writing. In the darkness, he couldn’t see a thing so he relied on his touch.

“D?” he voiced out after he stopped. The cheek on his shoulder moved as if he was nodding. He writes again. “A?” Another nod.

“N.” He mumbles. “I”, “E”, “L”, he spelled out. The man drops his hand but his cheek doesn’t leave his shoulder. “Daniel,” he says under his breath.

“Is that your name?” David turns a fraction but remembers he couldn’t see him. He feels another nod. “Wow,” he breathes out. There were so many things about him that surprised David. If this was the only way for them to communicate, then he’ll offer his hand up to him anytime.

“I’m David,” he adds. He shifts in his spot, uncomfortable with the weight on him but hoping to god he doesn’t move away. “I wanted to um, say thank you for almost everything,” he chuckles. “I know this is something so... extraordinary. You saved my life more than I could count,” he says. A small voice in his head tells him to shut up ‘cause it felt like he was dangling his life in front of a hungry beast.

He doesn’t. “I wish you could talk so I’d have someone to talk to,” he finds himself laughing despite their situation. He feels his fingers carve something out on his palm and he waits patiently for him to respond. It felt like years before he could finish his sentence. Some of the letters seemed incomprehensible to David but he put it together, fixed it and got:

‘I am talking to you’

“This still baffles me, honestly. How does your mind even work? I’ve got so many questions,” he says excitedly but the other just drops his hand like it was something he did not want to talk about. David jumps when he hears a growl emanate from his mouth, the vibration cold on his shoulder. He grips the machete on instinct, but goes slack when the growling stops. He relaxes, counts to ten, and takes a deep breath. If he listened closely, he could even hear the other mewling. A small ounce of sympathy bubbles up inside him for the poor boy.

The rest of the night is spent in that cave, waiting as the slow ones finally moved past their hiding spot. David feels a weird sense of calm when Daniel doesn’t remove his cheek from his shoulder. In a way, it alerts him of his presence. He’s _there_ and _not crouching behind you, ready to take a huge chunk of your flesh_.

He almost falls asleep if it weren’t for Daniel nudging him awake. David swears he forgets he’s with someone infected and in that moment, he was hiding out with a fellow survivor. As they leave the cave, chain in hand, he realizes he wasn’t just an ordinary corpse or—dare he say, survivor.

And he doesn’t want Gwen to meet him.

Regret fills him immediately at the thought. It would be his life on the line if Daniel turns out to be a smarter version of these walking infections. But... he also didn’t want Gwen to take Daniel away from him. His chest pounded heavily. His stomach dropped. It was difficult explain the feeling but David knew he felt something; a sort of protectiveness over him, perhaps.

Daniel looks back at him as if he knew his eyes were on him this entire time. The brunette looks away like he wasn’t just caught.

As the huge mess hall came into view, a mix of emotions flood into him. He stops in his tracks, pulling Daniel back with him. The man stops and walks to his side. David doesn’t even bother to raise his machete.

“Would it be wrong if I said I didn’t want them to meet you?” He says embarrassedly. Daniel tilts his head to the side. “Um, I kind of don’t want them coming after you,” he trailed off uncomfortably. The blonde raises his head like he understands. David fidgets with the chain in his hand. He looks over his shoulder at the mess hall then back to Daniel.

The man had a smile on his face, eyes half-lidded as he focused only on David. He turns beet red as taboo thoughts infiltrate his head—thoughts you shouldn’t be having in the middle of the night with a half-corpse who follows you around. But David can’t help it ‘cause those blue eyes never looked so alive and that smirk did _things_ to his stomach.

He coughs and forces himself to look away from his tantalizing gaze. His eyes land on the cabin not too far and an idea goes off in his head.

“I guess we’re spending the night somewhere else. Come on, I’ve found us a place.” He tugs the chain and leads Daniel to the cabin they emptied out in the morning. They slip inside and David is careful to sweep the broken glass aside when he smashed through the windows. He closes the door and finds a place to tie the chain to. He’s smart enough not to let him go free while he’s sleeping.

“I hope you understand,” David mutters as he ties his chain around the metal frame of the bunk beds. Daniel looks at him calmly. He crosses to the other side of the room, satisfied with the distance, and sits with his back on the wall. Daniel slides down to the floor, copying him.

“Goodnight,” he says. Two of them stare at each other, the atmosphere thick and David can’t explain why. He wills the blush away from staring at Daniel too long.

Anyone could see it. Maybe David really was an idiot. He closes his eyes for the night and hopes to every deity out there that he wakes up alive and uninfected.


	5. Boundaries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UWAAA I've got 2 weeks worth of vacation and I'm gonna try to use that time to write more chapters!  
> Thank you to everyone who've commented and gave kudos. I'm super glad y'all are into this story :oo I never thought it'd turn out this well too tbh. Hope I don't disappoint y'all. Anywho, heeeere's this chapter.

The brunette’s eyes flutter open and he groans, back and shoulders sore from spending the night lying on the hard wooden floor. He’s greeted with the sight of the cabin’s ceiling. His head lolls to the side and his view shifts to a tilted room. A figure lay on the ground, seemingly asleep; the room bathed in fresh sunlight. He pushes himself up to a sitting position and puts a hand to his head, feeling slightly dizzy.

 _I’m alive_. His eyes snap open. His hands roam the front of his shirt and he checks for anything suspiciously sore and painful on his body. Other than his aching shoulders, there was nothing about him that screamed infection.

A smile split across David’s face. His gaze lands on the sleeping figure on the ground, chain still dangling from the bed frame ending right at the collar the other man wore around his neck. Ah, right, the reason for him being alive was because of that chain. Had he not tied him to it, his chances of waking up were down to 40%—just cause he still had faith in him.

A little too much faith, it seems. He glides across the floor, careful not to wake the other up. He grins to himself as he sits across from Daniel. He was sound asleep and it was incredible how peaceful he looked. No trace of the virus at all. He doesn’t see the monster lurking inside him nor the features a cannibal would possess. If he remembers clearly, Daniel had spat the human flesh. It still irked David to be so curious about the individual. He wanted all the answers but he can’t force them out of him.

He can write them out.

David ponders over the idea. Maybe he can actually spend time with Daniel and work his way there. He can even ask about Daniel’s past and the events that led to his... demise, all the while feeling his touch on his palm.

He takes in the blissful state the man is in. His gaze trails down from his dry blonde locks to his ruffled shirt, white belt tight around his waist to his curled up feet. Everything about his attire looked so cultish. Bleached white and nothing looked out of place—except the stains due to their situation. He can actually imagine him going door to door, perfect smile trained to charm and prepared to introduce strangers into their religion. At least, that’s how far David knew about it.

He imagines a life wherein he’d be behind the door, only to open it to see the most quite attractive man he’s laid his eyes on. A shiver runs through him as his thoughts run wild, the subject of said thoughts being right in front of him. He wonders what it’d be like to hear Daniel’s voice, to hear him talk and entice him. His eyes fall to his lips. He wonders what could’ve been if they met under different circumstances.

He jolts and backs away. _Oh dear, what am I getting myself into? Stop it!_ He almost blurts the last words out, desperate to clear any fantasies of him and Daniel out of his head. This was an actual person, someone he’s just met—someone clearly not compatible with him in terms of _health condition_. He’s disgusted with himself for thinking such thoughts. Yet, his eyes don’t stray away from Daniel.

His heart leaps out of his throat when the blonde’s eyes blink open. There’s a second where both of them look at each other. David looks away first, afraid to get pulled back in. He hears him sit up. The chain rattles against the metal bed frame.

“Good to see you’re awake,” his mouth opens, desperate to fill the silence. The look Daniel gives him is suspicious. “Um, well it is morning.” David’s mumbling again. He looks at anything but him. It’s silly to see him like this especially since moments ago, he’d been all too happy to stare at him.

“Did I say thank you yet? Thank you again, for what you did last night,” he fiddled with his thumbs. He becomes aware he’s left his weapon a couple feet away from him. He looks straight up at Daniel, gauging his reaction. He doesn’t move and he holds in his breath, thinking this might be the part where he lunges at him.

He doesn’t. A small smile plays on his lips as he bows his head forward. A _you’re welcome_ , perhaps? David doesn’t reach for the machete anymore. “You were pretty cool, helping me out like that,” he chuckles. “It was either us or him, right?” David forces a smile, put off by how easily he disregarded that man’s life. Walls, walls, walls. Gwen’s voice sprouted in his head. _Attach yourself to no one and you will survive_ , came her advice.

_“Except you?” David teased. Gwen punches him in the shoulder. “Damn right, except me,” she repeats._

He’s brought back to the present when the door opens and a familiar voice wafts in. He turns so quickly, he feels his brain rattle inside his head.

“—think I heard... oh shit.” Max’s wide eyes land on David. He turns to the man beside him. _This is bad._

“Wait, Max—“

“Gwen!” he sprints away.

The brunette stands up and sends a quick apology to Daniel. He retrieves the machete before dashing out the cabin, eager to find where the child ran off to. He runs to where he thinks the voice is loudest. He spots the blue hoodie and the brown hair and knows he’s found them. He nears them and catches snippets of Max’s story.

Gwen’s eyes are like a brewing storm. They catch him off guard and he stumbles back. She looked like she wanted to hug him for making it out alive, but also wanted to stab him in the chest.

“Tell me what he said isn’t true,” she starts.

“Before I answer that, you need to know the entire story first,” he lowers the hands he unconsciously put up in defense. Gwen looks back at the cabin behind them then back at him. Her furrowed eyebrows smooth out and her eyes close.

“Everything. I need details and don’t you dare leave anything out. Let’s talk, David.” She passes by him but stops. She holds her hand out and David knows she wanted back what she has given him. He hands her the machete. He trails behind her as they enter the mess hall, Max in tow. The kids gather up around them, spilling their concern over the brunette.

“Where have you been? Did you fight the bad guys off?” Space Kid tugged on his arm.

“You scared us last night! I almost thought you wrote yourself your own tragedy.” Preston frowned. Neil questioned his actions too and so did Max. Most importantly, he wanted to know why he had a corpse chained to a bed. When his question rose, all the chatter in the room quieted and everyone’s attention was on him. He takes a chair as exhaustion crept in from last night. Thus, he recounted the events of last night. He began with foolishly exiting the mess hall due to his curiosity. It led to the friendly encounter with Daniel, whom he defended when they began yelling why he didn’t just kill him. He tells them of the two intruders and how Daniel helped protect his skin. At that point, Gwen pulls out a gun—the same gun the man dropped last night. He tells them how the fight brought attention to them and that led to their fleeing.

“You’re telling us that that zombie helped you out?” Space Kid stared at him doe-eyed. David nodded. He gulped when their disbelieving stares honed in on him.

He goes as far as telling them of the cave and how he miiiight’ve entered the dark with Daniel just to hide out for a while. Gwen cursed out loud.

“Nothing happened to me. Look,” he stood up, arms splayed out. “This is why I put so much trust in him. He saved my life and hasn’t done anything that makes me say otherwise.” Neil was shaking his head, mumbling all the possible outcomes and why David hasn’t been bitten. He continues, steering clear of the part where he gets emotional. His eyes lit up when he revealed a way of communicating with him via hand writing. Told them his name was Daniel. He tells them finally that he didn’t want to wake them up after such a mess and used the cabin instead.

“So what I got is... David got himself a zombie boyfriend and he wanted some alone time with him. That would explain their close proximity earlier when I found them,” Max accused him.

David blanched. “Excuse me? I do not have a...” his mouth failed to copy the words.

“That’s ridiculous, Max.” Gwen facepalmed. “David, you should know better than that,” she frowns. She takes his spiked bat leaning on the kitchen counter and hands it to him. “I don’t care how much you trust him or how, strangely enough, he’s not coming after you. Safety is required at all times, okay?” She doesn’t let go of the bat until David nods.

“Alright, let’s see him them,” she walks toward the door, machete and gun in hand. David stands from his chair and stares after her.

“What?” he says.

“What, aren’t you going to introduce the man who’s been courting you to us?” Gwen clicked her tongue, grinning as he looked at her horrified. “I was joking. Please tell me you didn’t go out and got yourself a dead boyfriend,” she’s already making her way towards the cabin and David ran to catch up. He looked back to see the kids following.

“He’s not dead,” he defended. “He’s different, I swear it.” Gwen catches his eye but doesn’t say a word.

She puts her machete back in the sheath and holds onto the gun. The sight of it makes David anxious. Once her hand closes around the door knob, the kids all gather around her. David wanted to usher them back, not quite sure if he’s afraid of Daniel coming after them or if he’s afraid they’ll startle him. Gwen opens the door and immediately, David’s eyes land on the lone figure standing in the room as if he’s afraid he won’t be there when he came back. His blue eyes turn to slits as he examines them but once David moves forward, he relaxes. He doesn’t fail to notice his companions’ tense shoulders.

He keeps walking until he’s within reaching distance. “Wait!” Gwen’s sharp voice pulls him back. He looks at her questioningly. She looks at him as if he’s mad, then she snaps her attention to Daniel.

“He’s the guy. This is the same guy you told me about. The chain, the collar. Is there something you’ve been keeping from me?” Gwen looks at him in accusation. David feels his face heat up.

“N-no? No secrets,” he gulps his half lie down. “But yeah, he’s the same dude.” He turns back, only to find Daniel inches away from his face. His blood turns to ice as he’s met with a scrutinizing gaze far too smart to be owned by a half-corpse. Even with their same height, it almost seemed like Daniel towered over him. The proximity sends all the blood running back to his face. _What did you tell them about me?_ Daniel’s eyes seemed to demand.

“David, back away. Now,” Gwen’s voice comes out shaky, wary of Daniel’s presence.

“No, I told you,” he stands his ground. He lifts his head, showing bravery to whom he doesn’t know exactly. “He won’t hurt me,” he says under his breath, certain that Gwen heard him but it’s more of a silent plea for Daniel. Feeling bold, he steps aside and plows forward. His steps become rigid as his gaze never left him.

“David,” came Gwen’s warning tone. Her disbelief in him pulls at him. He’ll blame it on his stubbornness to prove her wrong when he reaches up to the bed frame and unchains Daniel from it.

“Whoa!”

“David, the hell?!”

“This is getting out of hand!”

But it wasn’t. Daniel seemed as if he’s enjoying the ruckus, looking at all of them calmly. David winds the chain around his hand and faces them bravely, only to be looking down at the barrel of the gun Gwen now aims at them. His heart stops. Everything stops. Even the kids look nervously back and forth between them.

“You are my best friend, David,” she starts. “You cross the line sometimes, and I don’t mind. But this... this is more than crossing the line. You’re taking a huge goddamn leap. It’s-He’s a danger to you! To everyone!” she manuevers the gun and points it at Daniel. The brunette freezes, hands clamping down on the chain when he hears the blonde growl.

“Gwen, put the gun down. That’s unnecessary,”

“Is it?” She frowns at him. “Any second now, he’s going to attack—“

“He won’t!” his voice comes out raw. “Please, trust me. If I was wrong, I wouldn’t be standing here right now.” Carefully, he tugs on the chain. Daniel stops growling but his face stays feral.

“My god, what has become of you?” Gwen whispers harshly. This breaks David’s heart. She hasn’t lowered her gun. Her finger is on the trigger, aimed at Daniel. He can’t let her do this. He moves abruptly, shielding Daniel. A brave move, but also a foolish one. Gwen’s finger falls from the trigger. A sigh escapes him.

“If you do this, you’ll kill someone who still has a chance of living,” he says, knees weak as he’s going against his best friend in this battle.

“David, he’s dead. Look at him!” Gwen doesn’t aim anymore but uses the gun to emphasize her point.

“No, you look at him! Take a good look,” he says. “Look at his eyes and tell me they’re devoid of life. Look at him and tell me he looks nothing human. Look at him and tell me the virus is all what’s controlling him,” he says.

“I am!” Gwen narrows her eyes at him.

“He’s fighting it! Okay? I see it in him,” he looks over his shoulder. Daniel’s glaring at her but softens when he sees David. “Maybe the infection is different with others. Survival of the fittest, isn’t it?” He offers reluctantly, tired of the wrong fight. “Maybe the virus develops differently with different people. He could be a strong host and the virus is losing.”

Her silence meant it was okay for him to keep going. “You don’t have to go near him. He trusts me. I’ll keep him here and make sure he’s not gonna do any harm,” he says.

“He’s the only one we’ve seen so far in control,” Gwen murmurs. “It could be a breakthrough.” She looks between them and sighs.

“Gwen, are you actually thinking about this?” Max’s voice interrupts them. “Give me the damn gun and I’ll get rid of the problem myself before it spreads,” he stomps forward but Gwen pockets the gun. She ignores him but Daniel sure as heck doesn’t. David’s glad he’s got him on a leash right now.

“If you’re going to keep him, you make sure he stays here.” She points at the cabin. “If you cross this area,” she points at the doorway, “make sure you tell me first where you plan to go with him. He is most definitely not allowed to go inside the mess hall nor is he allowed to go near the kids. Understand?” She says almost pleadingly.

The brunette nods, happy that his best friend didn’t do anything that would yield an unpleasant reaction. After his encounter with the two men, he knew Daniel had strength he kept hidden under his deceiving demeanor. He could very well lunge at them without letting the bed frame hold him back. In fact, if he wanted to, he could’ve feasted on David whilst he was sleeping that night.

 _Oh, right_. He furrows his eyebrows. He didn’t exactly like eating... flesh—which brings him to another question. What did Daniel eat?

Gwen and the other kids leave them to their own devices, not without Max sending a disgusted scowl at them. He closes the door and drops the chain. Exhausted once more, he sits on the floor. He hasn’t eaten since last night. That would explain his exhaustion. He watches the other sit in front of him, chain pooling around his feet. They sit and stare, just like last night. On one hand, David’s glad he got to keep him.

He cringes. That made it sound like he was keeping Daniel as a pet. It certainly sounded like it too when Gwen listed off her rules. He swallows his uneasiness down. “I didn’t mean for it to come out so objectified,” he tells him. Daniel gives him a look of concern. “It sounded like I was just keeping you around. I assure you I’m not-I won’t treat you any different.” he clears his throat.

Daniel scoots closer to him, brushing the chain away when it got in the way. He holds out his palm in a silent permission. David puts his hand on top of his and he began writing.

‘I understand’

“You do?” David smiles. Daniel stares at him then copies his smile. David’s palm feels cold and empty once his fingers stopped writing, which doesn’t make sense since Daniel’s hand is colder than his. He tries to come up with more questions just to feel his feathery touch on his hand again but the words die on his lips when Daniel lets go of his hand. Right. Still weird. How can he tell him that he doesn’t want him to stop writing on David’s palm? He rubs his face when he realizes he might be blushing.

His head snaps up when he hears a sound come from him. He snickered. Daniel was capable of laughing and it set fireworks off in his head.

“What’re you laughing at?” he huffs, pouting like a child. He sucks in his bottom lip when he hears another chuckle come from him. “Oh, ha ha, I guess,” he tries to grimace but a smile makes its way on his lips instead. He spends the time talking to Daniel, content with filling the silence between them. Either way it was comfortable silence. He’s able to tear himself away from him long enough to snatch food and—unwilling to let Daniel starve, grabbed some for him too. It was a theory he had yet to test out if Daniel even needed to eat. But as he opened up the cans and set it in front of them, his theory was proven right. He ate but only in small amounts. Gwen would kill him if she found out she snuck food out for him, but hopes she’d understand. She always did.

David did something he hasn’t done with Gwen. He tells the blonde the story of how he met Darla and what progressed between them. It was a burden to carry and he knew it weighed him down emotionally. He needed to get it out before it choked him. Daniel listened, like he always did. He tells him everything, getting lost in the story and not caring whether or not he’s catching up.

Further into his rambling, he doesn’t realize he’s crying until his tears drip down his neck, leaving a cold trail. An even colder hand reaches over and wipes his cheek. He’s shocked into silence at Daniel’s act of compassion for a second. He’s reminded of their first meeting when he smudged his cheek with dirt. A laugh bubbles up inside him. He apologizes, wipes the tears away, and continues his story albeit with a lighter mood. Daniel’s acting more human the more he spent time with him. Was that a good sign?

He's called outside soon to help reset the trip wires. Gwen must’ve changed back into her sleeveless shirt sans hoodie, seeing as she stood out from the sea of dark green. It reminds David to wash up soon. He misses the warmth of his parka. Neil’s been pacing around, going through possible resources they could use to build a makeshift wall. The rope still hung suspended in between the trees. He wouldn’t dare lean on it, but he places a hand on the taut rope. It only went up to David’s waist. If a horde of them pushed through, no doubt the rope will only delay them for a few seconds before they break through. Time is good, no matter how little. It could alter the course of a situation.

David looks back at the cabin, upset that Daniel’s stuck in there alone. If Gwen noticed his longing looks, she didn’t comment on them. When the sun finally set and everyone’s locked in the mess hall eating dinner—a.k.a more canned food, insert sigh—David told Gwen about Daniel’s appetite and how he still ate human food.

“Do you realize how human you’re making him sound like?” She gave him a skeptical look as she handed him the can.

“But he is,” he furrows his eyebrows. “Sort of. Anyway, thanks for this.” He says and stands up, heading for the door.

“Hold up, you’re going there? Now?” She too stands up.

“I’ll be back,” he says. She looks at him unamused. “I promise. No straying or getting myself in trouble,” he manages a serious face as he raises his hand to swear.

“Just,” she shifts in place. “Watch your head,” she mumbles. She points at his bat, silently telling him to _never go outside unarmed_.  Smiling warmly at her, he thanks her again before grabbing the bat and heads out.


	6. Allure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, more chapters! Wow I really am a terrible liar. How does one make a one-shot? .__.  
> Also, I try to refrain from anything too cringey since Daniel is.. um.. well, kinda dead ._. Necrophilia's kinda gross BUT HEY, he's technically sort of half. Besides it's not like I'm gonna write smut or anything *sweats* yeah, no. Too far.  
> I try to make these chapters long to get things going. I think it's pretty good. It's only a matter of time before things go... downhill. AGAIN, I'm not planning to make this like, a super long fanfic or anything (though that would be nice *cries*). I originally wanted to make it short. It's just an AU, after all.   
> Anyway, back to the story~

He shuts the door with a click behind him, winding the chain around the handles and easing his way in the darkness of the mess hall. He handed the canned food to Daniel after opening it and chatted him up for a bit. He bid him goodnight, tied his chain around the bed frame once more and reluctantly left. He finds his spot by the window and feels someone poke him on the arm.

“You’re still up?” He asks Gwen as he slides down to sit beside her. The patch of her skin that touches him becomes warm on contact. He has spent so much time with Daniel that he nearly forgot what actual human contact felt like—from someone fully alive, that is.

“I’ve been worried about you,” she mumbles. She nudges his shoulder and he nudges back. It’s quiet times like these he misses. They get sentimental and they’re able to share in each other’s burden. David’s got a feeling it’ll be on him this time. He finds her hand in the darkness and squeezes it.

“I would be too if I were in your place,” he says.

“So why do you continue it?” the sound of her clothes brushing against the floor meant she faced him. “He’s special, I get it. But you don’t have to be with him 24/7,” he can practically hear the frown in her voice. He looks down at their hands.

“I don’t have to, but I want to,” he confesses. “If I were Daniel, I’d long for human contact too. I’d understand that people are scared of me. I’m only giving him what I would’ve wanted if I were him,” he says. He looks up at her, trying so hard to find her eyes in the dark so that he can understand what she truly felt about this.

“How are you so sure he still feels anything?” she asks. This was like a stab to his heart. Because how could he? How _was_ he sure of it?

“I think... I just know it,” it was a pathetic answer and they both knew it. Unable to defend his answer, he settles back on the wall and closes his eyes. This time it’s Gwen who squeezes his hand.

“Remember those rules I set up for us?” she whispers when one of the kids turn in their sleep, mumbling incoherently before falling into deep sleep again. Their soft snores fill the silence. The brunette makes a sound of agreement.

“Which one?” he chuckles.

“Never join a group, yet here we are.” She says tiredly. “Put up your walls, yet we’re here mothering a bunch of children.” David nods, seeing where she’s going with this.

“Don’t go after damsels in distress, yet we still came looking for you.” She snickers. David fakes a shock look, batting her hand away. This only elicits more laughter from her. They held each other, giggling quietly until their high has died down.

“Your point?” David asks. She clears her throat and straightens her back.

“I’m not really sure what my point is, after all that,” she says. “We’ve gone this far because we haven’t broken the rules, but we’ve also achieved more by... breaking them,” she deadpans.

David laughs at her. “Mhm, go on,”

“I mean, if you never went after that kid, we’d never meet these people. We’d probably be hiding under another car or struggling to climb up another building right now. And I’ll be honest, ever since we stayed in this campsite, I’ve felt happier recently.” She says, head lolling onto his shoulder.

“Kids do have that effect, yes,” he smiles, content with how Gwen’s opening up to him.

“Yeah, and maybe it’s the change of environment. Out there, it’s concrete buildings, fuel and smoke in the air, large neon signs blinking overhead. It’s overwhelming, especially in a situation like this. I find it so surreal that a place usually bustling with busy happy people is now empty, save for the corpses who roam it.” She sighs.

“I know what you mean,” he says. “I like it here too. The trees provide a natural comfort. No artificial lights to distract us or giant billboards obscuring the sky. I sometimes wonder why I didn’t take up a job as a camp counselor,” he laughs. “It’s refreshing to get a nice view of the trees, the sparkling lake, and the sun dipping in between the clouds. It’s a shame we’re only able to cherish nature’s gifts now with our current situation,” a yawn escapes him. He feels Gwen pat his back, urging him forward.

“It is,” she murmurs. “Reminds me what I’m missing when I’m locked in my apartment, facing the laptop and chugging down caffeine. But for now, you deserve a nap,” she tells him when David opens his mouth to retort. “I’ll stay up, don’t worry. I don’t think it’s healthy for you to keep watch three nights in a row.” He smiles and nods, heading for the vacant mattress on the floor. A soft goodnight is all he hears before sinking into the bed, letting sleep take him.

. . . . .

_‘“Something’s not right,” Darla mutters under her breath loud enough only for David to hear. They’ve taken up residence in a small hardware store that’s been ransacked when the virus hit the city. Tonight, they hide and gather their energy for the upcoming days especially since the group just lost another member. Luckily, before they left the scene, another man came up and they were surprised to see Cameron._

_They all thought he was dead once they got news of the cluster in the city. Cameron and another man were there, looking for more bottled water. They were almost out._

_He came to them, staggering and waving his hand. He warned them of the horde that they encountered and how their friend didn’t make it. They shouldered him and found the small store they currently resided in now. Cameron was given a mat to lay on as he caught his breath. David chose that moment to stand outside the room, keeping watch to see if anything suspicious approached. That’s when Darla sidled up beside him._

_“What do you mean?” David looks at her, a dull ache throbs in his chest. He doesn’t fail to notice how they’ve slowly broken apart from one another. Before being reunited with Gwen, he and Darla had been inseparable. They worked together and got each other’s back. David longed to be like that again, hoping for the tension between them to dissipate._

_“Cameron’s babbling about nonsense. At first he looked traumatized with what happened. That’s understandable but... I couldn’t make out the words he’s been saying. Then he just… stopped,” Darla looks around, at the group huddled together at the far end then at the room Cameron stayed in. The door was open, providing them a full view of the sleeping figure on the floor._

_“So?” David asked._

_“I don’t know. He hasn’t stirred ever since. I say we watch over him. Who knows what virus he’s carrying from being exposed to a horde of them,” Darla shifts in place, nervously looking around. Looking back, David realizes she isn’t the only one nervous about Cameron’s lack of movement. The two guys in their group were whispering amongst themselves. He catches Gwen’s eye from far back. She nods, giving him time to talk to his former companion._

_“I’m just worried, okay? It’s not every day a member of our group comes back to us alive,” the weight of her words dig into his skin. She was right. Cameron gave them quite the fright when he emerged from the alleyway._

_“As long as we stick together, we don’t lose anyone else,” David says. He combs his red hair back with his fingers, tired of it getting in his face a lot. He sees Darla follow the motion with her eyes. There were still words she held back from him. He gauges the distance from the closest guy and calculates how much of their conversation can be heard._

_“I don’t want to lose you,” David tells her. He hears a quick intake of breath and curses himself. Did he say the wrong thing?_

_“I don’t either, Davey.” She steps closer to him. She looks over his shoulder and without following her line of sight, David knows she’s looking at Gwen. She steps back but David’s fast to hold onto her arm._

_“Darla, what is this?” He exhales. When he’s met with silence, he continues. “You can tell me anything, you know that, right? I feel like there’s a barrier between us and I don’t like that. I know you feel it too,” he leads her farther away from the group, away from prying eyes. She looked like she was about to cry._

_“I... I don’t know what you mean, David.” She looks away. Her hands are clammy and she’s looking anywhere but him._

_“Darla,” he says exasperated. He hesitates, knowing it’ll come to bite him back in the butt later. “Did that kiss mean anything, back when we were running from those guys?” He hasn’t finished his sentence when she pulled away from his grip._

_“What kiss?” There was denial in her eyes. So that’s what’s been bothering her. The brunette drops his hand, unable to say anything that’ll fix the situation._

_“I thought-“_

_“Sorry, I have to head back. Kevin’s probably waiting on me,” and with that, she spins and walks away from him; walks away from them. The damage has been done and David doesn’t know if he’s the one who pulled them apart. He emerges, seeing Darla sit with one of the guys. Gwen’s off the wall and approaching him, but he raises a hand. He needed time to think._

_He needed to put up his walls.’_

He blinks, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. A voice called out to him but it was blurry. He blinks once more and feels Gwen’s hands on his face. It’s her voice he was hearing.

“David?” she asks. He groans and sits up. There’s something about her touch that warms his heart. “I woke you up ‘cause you were crying. Is everything... are you alright?” She lets go as David rubs his eyes. The sun had just started to peek, bathing them in a pinkish-orange glow.

“I think so,” he lies. He bites his lip, feeling tears well up. “No,” he sobs. Gwen’s arms are around him immediately. He rests his head on her shoulder and sobs quietly. He tells her the dream and the memory altogether. She holds him tighter, knowing those days haunted them. They should’ve examined Cameron closer. Should’ve noted the signs and took more precautions.

Once he’s all dried out, Gwen stands up and offers a hand to pull him up. “Come on. What you need is some fresh water,” she tosses him his old shirt and the brunette can’t help but grin.

They exit the mess hall and shut the door behind them. The forest was clear and the sun painted the sky with beautiful peach colors. He stared in awe and took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air. The buzzing of insects and the chirping of birds put a jump to David’s steps. He passes by Daniel’s cabin and stops. Gwen walked ahead. _I can see him later_ , he tells himself.

He undresses while Gwen’s back is to him, keeping guard with her machete. He takes a dip and smiles wider. He can’t help it as he splashes into the water. He hears Gwen laugh.

“Make it quick,” she shook her head.

“Let me have my me time,” he sighs. He goes to work, rubbing his scalp and dipping his hair in the water. It was a bit chilly for him but it woke his spirits up. He scrubbed the days’ worth of sweat and grime off him and wipes his face clean. He shakes his head, splashing water droplets everywhere and sits on the dock near the lake and shivers from the wind rushing past him.

“I kinda wish we had towels,” he reaches for his shirt, being careful to not get it too soaked.

Gwen scoffs. “We’re lucky enough as it is. Though towels sound nice,” she says.

Certain that Gwen’s still standing with her back to him, he dresses up and wipes himself dry with the green shirt. He bounces up to Gwen and flicks some of the water droplets at her. She swats him away, smiling. He fusses with his wet hair as they walk back, but something makes David stop. He hears a soft clanging from the cabin.

“I’ll see you later?” David offers, pleading she’ll let him off this early in the morning. She gives him a stern look but nods.

“Be back for breakfast. Don’t want him making breakfast out of you,” she mumbled. He shakes his head and tosses his dirty shirt at her. She almost throws it back but David’s already on the threshold of the cabin. He opens it and sees Daniel standing, tugging on the chain experimentally.

The blonde looks up sharply when David’s presence is known. “Daniel,” David manages a smile. He feels blood rush to his face when Daniel’s eyes travel from his damp hair and down his body. A chill courses through him. It wasn’t the wind alone that emitted such a reaction from him. He closes the door and leans on it, hyperaware of the water droplets from his hair rolling down his back.

“You’re up early,” he smiles when Daniel lets go of the chain. The other man takes a step forward, then another. One foot in front of the other. He stands in front of David, face unreadable. The collar strains against his neck as the chain pulls taut. The brunette gulps, a bit intimidated by Daniel wanting to get closer to him.

“Yes?” he asks.

The man reaches out for his hand. David obliges, feeling electricity shoot through him from where his skin makes contact with Daniel’s hand. The cold digits swirl on his palm. David almost doesn’t comprehend the letters, too lost in his touch—more so when Daniel’s eyes don’t leave his face.

‘I missed you’

He did a double take. _Did he really say that?_ The brunette’s eyes go wide. Daniel still hasn’t let go of his hand. He doesn’t dare remove it. His piercing gaze overwhelms David so he looks away. He manages a small laugh.

“It’s okay, I’m here now,” he says. He feels Daniel’s grip on his hand tighten. He looks back up. There’s something electric about his eyes. It shocks you when it takes a hold of you, David thinks. He’s completely under Daniel’s spell. He’s writing again and the brunette’s trying to keep up.

‘Stay’

He’s certain of the blush spreading across his face. He stumbles over his words, unsure of what to say first. He swallows his words when the man curls his fingers around David’s. He’s holding his hand. He’s _holding_ his hand. David’s heart skips a beat. He nods and fully closes his fingers around him.

“Sure,” he breathes out almost dreamily. The edge of Daniel’s lips lift into a smirk. He knows what he’s doing to him. _Oh god_ , David can’t stop the hammering of his heart against his ribcage. _This is definitely not okay!_ He warns himself. But then Daniel’s tugging him toward him. He doesn’t resist.

‘Stay’

He writes again. David doesn’t process their proximity until he’s nodding into his shoulder. If it was possible, his whole face is painted red like a tomato. He pulls back a bit, aware of the dark stain on his shirt and reminding himself why this won’t work out.

“I should untie you from the bed,” he smiles weakly. “Um, you probably don’t like being caged here but it’s Gwen’s rules.” He leaves the comfort of Daniel a bit reluctantly to untie the chain. “It’s the only way I get to keep you around too,” he mutters under his breath. David drops the chain and turns around to find the blonde’s examining him but it isn’t the lustful kind of gaze. He steps closer to David and asks for his palm.

‘There is another way’

David’s eyes are quick to find Daniel’s when he finishes writing. Mischief gleamed in them but also hope. His mouth drops in astonishment. _There is?_ Came his curiosity.

 _Take it_. His traitorous thoughts painted a scene of him leaving everything he knew and trusted to be with Daniel. It didn’t last longer than a second, but it sent him into a spiral of guilt.

Before he could ask, another voice interrupted him. “David, food’s ready!” Gwen. He lets go of Daniel’s hand, realizing he started gripping onto him. He looks away flustered and tells him he’ll be back. His heart breaks when he sees Daniel’s crestfallen look when he exits the cabin. He goes out to find Gwen and the others huddled around a small fire. They heated up the cans and the food inside it boiled. A warm breakfast, something new.

Usually, he’d be against making fires scared the light and smoke will attract attention. It’s morning, so he doubt the light will do anything. And after bathing in cold water, he started to appreciate the warmth of the flames. It helps wash away the ghost of Daniel’s hands on him. As they clean up and wash their faces by the lake, David asks Gwen if he can bring Daniel out of the cabin. She looks at him for a moment and nods, telling him not to stray too far and not to near them. They’ll be working on the ropes again after Neil presented one of his other theories. Saying they could gather rocks and boulders for the meanwhile and build a small wall. Again, it’ll only help keep things out but it won’t be sturdy enough to hold them back.

The kids soon leave the lake to surround Gwen. Seeing the lake empty, an idea goes off in his head. It was stupid, but the blood stain really was getting to him. He goes back to the mess hall and digs out another shirt, glad that the camp provided uniforms for their staff and extras for their campers. He grabs his parka and slips it on, appreciative of the warmth and heads back to Daniel’s cabin.

The whole morning, the brunette persuaded his friend to... change his attire. Even Gwen gave him a baffled look when she saw him carrying another shirt. In the end, his charms ruled out and he’s cleaned him up pretty good. David’s certain of the thankful look on Daniel’s face when he scrubs his white shirt clean. That’ll rid it of the metallic scent and have it spick and span once more. He couldn’t help himself inspect the injury done to Daniel when he puts the shirt over him. He tries not to stare at the horrendous bite marks done by human teeth, aware of Daniel’s eyes on him. He coughs and steps back to admire him. It’s all worth it when he sees the blonde wear the green shirt with the pine tree logo. Such a contrast to his colorless attire. Daniel’s looking at him exasperatedly but he won’t have any of that.

“Shut up, you look great,” he grins. Admittedly, it was hilarious to see him so put off by the shirt like Max was when he was forced to wear it.

Daniel doesn’t stop glaring at him. It bore no actual heat and David laughs again. He’s tempted to go check on Gwen and the others but knows he’s forbidden to, not unless he chains Daniel back up again. He grimaces at that. He doesn’t want to treat him like an animal. Besides, Daniel’s proven himself to him already. There was no reason for the chain but Daniel insisted he holds onto it.

There was a moment where they stood at the edge of camp, near the lake hidden from the others’ view. He and Daniel were about to go back when a noise in the forest catches his attention. He snaps his head to the direction, blood draining from his face when he sees the walking corpse. He was alone but the realization that he was unarmed crashed down on him.

The figure stopped. And looked at them. His milky white eyes trained on David. He can hear a low rumble come from Daniel’s throat. The infected looked as if he sensed the threat, then miraculously he just... turned and left. David stared after the figure limping away. _The heck?_ He can feel Daniel’s presence looming behind him. He jumps when his arms circle around him.

“Daniel? What just happened?” He asks, turning around to meet his eyes. There was a frown on his face. He goes still as the other man buries his nose in his auburn locks. “Uh...” David mumbles, unsure of what to do in their situation. He feels his arms go slack and soon, Daniel’s retreating and tugging on the chain.

“Uh, right. We’re not supposed to stray far,” David lets out a shaky breath and leads him back to camp. His skin burns from Daniel’s contact a few minutes ago. He’s quiet but his mind isn’t, going crazy with speculations and what made Daniel do that.

He doesn’t tell Gwen. He doesn’t tell the kids. As the day ends, he ties Daniel back up and leaves. Before closing the door, he spares a glance back at him. He was watching him go. He offers a smile as he finally closes the door and heads back to the mess hall. The kids were playing a game when he entered, His heart leaps at the sight of them having fun. He settles beside Gwen and takes off his parka. She was watching them too.

“How’d the date go?” She says.

David learned not to take everything she says seriously, but it still made him flustered to think about him and Daniel being a thing. _Which they absolutely will never be cause it’s impossible_ , taunted the voices in his head. They’ve been going back and forth throughout the day, teasing him and scolding him whenever he looked at Daniel the wrong way.

“I hope you’re not ignoring me now,” Gwen’s lips lift a little. “Is he going to steal you from me?”

“Gwen!” He yelps. His face goes pink, guilty of how his heart flips. “You should know that there is nothing going on between us! Geez, it is not... physically possible,” he rubs his face and picks at his jeans to avoid her stare.

“I do know,” she hums. She leans forward, capturing his twitching hands. “Don’t let him get to you,” she says. She lets go and stands up, walking to the window where she gazes out. He inhales and counts to ten before following her. The idea’s been plaguing him since that morning and he knows he should approach the topic as gentle as he could.

“Um, Gwen,” he starts. He blows out the breath he’s been holding. “I think I should sleep in the cabin tonight. With Daniel,” she studies him carefully. He calms his nerves, ready to spill what he’s been thinking.

“What did I say about him not getting to you?” she mumbles.

“I think the more I spend time with him, he’s becoming human.” He blurts out. He ignores her skeptical look. “It’s a long shot but... I think I’m discovering something here. If I manage to change him—well, he’s not exactly doing any harm but, maybe we can turn this tide around,” he turns to her.

“What are you suggesting?” she crosses her arms, hesitant in indulging him.

“Daniel saved me, remember? He’s also strong and he’s capable of killing—” he halts. “Killing in a way that’s protective. He did it to save my life,” he mumbles. “Imagine if we found more of them. They could be fighting with us.”

“What you’re suggesting is insane. Daniel’s a miracle by himself.” Gwen frowns.

“He can’t be the only one out there,” David pushes.

“He protects you ‘cause he cares about you,” Gwen’s sharp tone makes him speechless. “I didn’t want to face the facts either but god, can you be any more oblivious? That thing—that man’s acting like your guard dog ‘cause he feels attached to you.” She pokes his chest.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you wanted to sleep there only to fulfill your weird fantasies with him,” Gwen sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“Hold on, I never gave any indication I would,” David grimaces, knowing he’s making half-assed remarks. He wills the blush threatening to spill across his face away. Gwen’s handing him a bat before he knows it.

“Fine. I’m letting you do this ‘cause I don’t wanna get in the way like last time with...” they both freeze. He knew exactly who she was pertaining to. “I don’t condone this, just so you know.” She clears her throat. “Maybe once you see him for the true monster he really is, it’ll bring you back to your senses.” She looks away and David knows the conversation between them is done.

Another block wedged between them. David’s shoulders sag. He doesn’t know how he’ll ever convince her otherwise. Daniel’s been nothing but good to him. It breaks his heart that his best friend doesn’t believe in him.

“I guess I’ll just have to show her,” he says from the other side of the door as he’s out of the mess hall. He walks away from his dilemma and heads into a new kind of trouble. Daniel.


	7. Venom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: FLUFF. Some... really passionate fluff. Like, holy shit I can't even. And some JEN! Woop!  
> Holy crepe I'm on the 7th chapter. I'm failing all these promises I'm making. To be honest, I've no idea just how many chapters I'm gonna put. I was hoping less than 10 but WOW look where we are now. We shall see.  
> I keep rambling ugh. I'd also like to gave super huge thanks to those lengthy comments in the comments section. My heart just flutters like fuck. You have no idea how much that brings a smile to my face. Seriously you guys are so amazing <33  
> Oh! I also wanna add that I drew David from this AU. To be seen at the end of this chapter.

David’s mind was a jumble of thoughts. Everyone’s voices went off at once in his head. He’s certain that if he closes his eyes, he’d see them all looking down at him in distaste—in horror. He silences their warnings to indulge in his sinful fantasies. It’s _oh so wrong_ , he knows it.

He’s covered in heat. His whole body slackened.

He can wallow in self-pity later. Let regret be the very virus that consumes him, bringing forth sleepless nights. As long as he gets to have _him_.

His frozen touch wars with the warmth that coats his skin.

David knows he’s utterly _fucked_ the moment he entered the cabin. It looked like he was intruding in on something when he saw Daniel’s shirt off. The blonde was inspecting the injury, fingers brushing against the gnarled skin. David drank in the sight of him in those few seconds. Slightly fit and pale as moonlight. Blonde hair disheveled from removing his shirt that now hung limp on the chains.

When Daniel’s eyes land on him, he’s frozen in place. Caught in the act of staring. His blue eyes flash, amused with David's starstruck expression. He goes back to his wound like he doesn’t mind David seeing the entirety of him. He approaches him, internally chanting that nothing’s going on between them. He feels nothing. Walls, walls, walls. But as he sits near him and lets his hand slide up Daniel’s arm, the chanting has quieted. His piercing gaze melts David on the spot.

The pull is too strong; he weakens against it and let’s himself be consumed by his desire.

He asks for his story. Daniel pulls his shirt back on in a swift movement, as if the injury doesn’t hinder him at all. David speculates it’s to sway his attention away from the bite. He takes his hand, no permission needed. They spare a heartbeat looking at each other. Then Daniel tugs him closer. David doesn’t hesitate to glide across, filling the gap between them. He begins writing, his touch a bit more distracting than usual. David forces himself to stop looking at Daniel to read the words as he tells his story.

Daniel wasn’t alone. He too was in a group. They were a diverse group of adults and teens. As the virus broke out, they took the liberty of arming themselves in case anyone went looking for trouble. That’s when trouble found them. Another group wasn’t being too friendly with the supplies. Daniel was the first to make the move; unsheathing a dagger and taking two of the men down with a slice to the throat before they could react. Pikeman grabbed their supplies off the floor, adding more to their weaponry. Jen, as gung ho as ever, took out the other member with her axe. Unfortunately, one of the men was quick to load his gun and fired a shot. Down Jermy went. A profitable loss, since he only slowed them down anyway. Stephen followed up with throwing a knife at the man who fired, hitting true when it entered his skull and out the back. Soon as the group was taken care of, they looted their dead bodies and hauled ass.

They lived the rest of the days similarly. They lived to kill; to slaughter both living and the dead. Whenever they encountered trouble, they spared no one. Until the day they met Snake. He abandoned his own group, even going far as to eliminate the rest the moment Daniel raised his hand. Word spread fast to avoid their menacing group—their posse of white uniformed killers. It had been less than two weeks and they were already making a name for themselves. Snake had yielded, saying he wanted to join. And join he did.

It didn't take long for one of them to start doubting Daniel's leadership. Jen, eager to take over, always found flaws in his plans. She nitpicked at each argument he made, forced the group to do her bidding instead. Soon, he was fighting for his position. He never yielded to her and vice versa. It had become a dangerous game.

They were resting up in a tent, too tired to slaughter more unfortunate survivors and steal their hideout. It had been morning when the horde hit. Daniel was the first one up, yelling at his group to get moving. They sprinted as fast as their feet could take them but they never outran the horde. Hunger-driven beasts ready to devour them. That’s when he was knocked down. It was a blur from there. Something cold and hard clamped around this throat and he was yanked back. His hands were too slow to retrieve the dagger when he sees the mad grin on Jen’s face. She dragged him back and chained him to a pipe. The collar bit into his neck, refusing to break free. He watched as she blew him a flying kiss and ran out the alley to where the others were waiting. They watch, horrified, until Jen proclaimed they needed to sacrifice one to outrun the horde. Grim acceptance as they turned their backs on him. She committed the motherload of all betrayals.

Daniel shouted their names until his throat went hoarse, cursing at them for betraying him. He was left as bait. The horde shambled closer. A gunshot rang out that caught their attention. As their attention was diverted, Daniel tried to free himself with no luck. One fortunate fellow heard the ruckus he was making and came after him. He was bitten on the shoulder before he could turn his head. He managed to drive his dagger deep into the corpse’s head but the damage had been done. Blood spilled from his fresh wound, painting him a dead man. He goes dizzy, either from the pain or the loss of blood, he doesn't know. He closed his eyes in that alley, virus already working its way to his head.

Somewhere during his story, David had closed the distance. His body rested on Daniel’s; shoulder an inch away from his face. Daniel’s breath touched his neck, warm and spine-tingling. David’s eyes almost close, too lost in feeling him everywhere. _Having him everywhere_. But he wasn’t done writing. The night covers them in a blanket of darkness. He’s back to _feeling_ the words being etched into his skin.

Daniel woke up, but he was completely different. His vision was blurry, dark. His body was drunk on pain. His shoulder felt frostbitten, cold and sending shocks of pain through him. His head pounded unrelentingly. He was angry. He had one thing in mind: revenge. Blonde hair and a psychotic grin were embedded in his head. His memories provided him with a name. Jen. Daniel felt stronger than ever. The throbbing of his head rendered him useless for a while but he soon noticed the corpses in his peripheral vision. They weren’t coming after him anymore. Fueled with rage as he remembers the act of betrayal, he tugs on the chain. Once. Twice. He kept tugging until his shoulder protested him to stop.

But he wasn’t done. Soon, he’s able to yank the chain away from the pipe. His breath was ragged, angry and exhausted. It was then that he noticed the throbbing had dulled. The cold lingered on his shoulder, but it no longer hurt. He walked amongst them but he had a purpose. He needed to settle the score with Jen.

Daniel stops writing on his palm. David’s trying to take everything in. He realizes they spent the entire night in close quarters with Daniel writing the tragedy that led to the bite. He’s cozied up to him, their heads almost touching. That’s when the voices spoke—telling him _no!_ , telling him _it’s wrong_.

Daniel’s touch is like nicotine. It’s addicting. It’s deadly, but he’s craving for more. David closes his hand around him. He feels Daniel exhale, the breath tickling his neck once more. David’s cheeks burn as his head spirals into sinful thoughts. He feels Daniel’s hand let go of him, only to snake it around his waist. His skin is on fire. He’s glad that the darkness hid them. The inability to see him, the danger that lurks with knowing Daniel could take advantage of him, sends goose bumps up his arms.

He gives in, inclining to his embrace. He must’ve discarded his bat since his hands were empty and only longed for Daniel’s touch.

 _Needy_ , he called himself. _Desperate_ , he labeled himself. _A fool to be in love with someone resigned to death_ , he scolds himself. But as Daniel caresses his hand, not exactly writing anything but lazily drawing on him, the voices drown away. The small chuckle Daniel makes sends vibrations down the brunette’s back. This isn’t _nothing_ —this was something he can’t deny is actually happening.

“Daniel,” he brings himself to say. The other buries his face in his hair. It almost makes him stutter.

“I’m sorry that happened,” he says under his breath.

Despite getting carried away by his desires, he listened and sympathized with Daniel. He didn't approve the massacre Daniel and his gang committed to innocent civilians. Something akin to fear crawled down his spine. Here Daniel was, the leader of a so-called notorious murderous group, residing in their camp. But his actions as of late only proved him innocent. He hasn't harmed a hair on any of the kids. David found it in himself to forgive Daniel.

 _He was only protecting the group_ , he reasoned. His heart broke when he learned of the betrayal done to him. It was an awful thing and this Jen person seemed like a lot of trouble.

 _You’re also in love with a murderer!_ The whispers taunted him. The voices start to infiltrate his head again, supplying him with doubts. They cease when Daniel nuzzles his head. He practically melts in his grip. Daniel’s hand is holding him steady. He disappears in a fog of desire.

‘Not your fault’

He barely manages a nod after Daniel writes on his palm. He was drifting off. His eyes close and David relaxes, letting himself fall into the abyss—the darkness that is Daniel.

. . . . .

He opens his eyes to the warm sunlight coming in through the open windows. Fresh air blows into his face. David stirs as he realizes he fell asleep with his back on the bed frame. His position was a bit uncomfortable. As he leans on his side, he feels another body collide with his. His cheek brushes against Daniel’s shirt as he looks up at him. The other man was still asleep. Blood rushes to his face.

“Oh god,” he whispers. He takes a deep breath, letting the events of last night play back. He leans his head on the blonde’s chest, admiring his face and the lock of hair that falls out of place. He couldn’t help it as he brushes it back. Daniel stirs and he’s met with those gorgeous eyes of his.

 _What is happening to me?_ David stares, unable to cover his face; blush vibrant on his face for the world to see. Daniel’s lips split into a smirk. It brings his eyes down to his mouth. 

 _No_.

He detaches himself from Daniel and pretends to stretch. His skin goes cold when Daniel’s hand leaves his waist. _Oh, golly_. He’d been holding him last night. A bit too intimately, he thinks. He fights the blush but loses it when Daniel pulls him back to him.

“Daniel,” he laughs nervously. “I gotta go back. Gwen’s probably looking for me or something,” he mutters the last words, not exactly enthusiastic about leaving either. He’s nuzzling his shoulder. Words fail to come out his mouth as he smiles, lost in his affectionate behavior.  He savors this moment before his thoughts could consume him.

“No, really. I have to go,” he smiles, still not getting up. Daniel senses his bluff, holding onto him tighter. He closes his eyes, content to stay there. David feels fingers wrap around his hand and turn it palm up.

‘join me and w-‘

He doesn’t get to finish writing before a harsh knock interrupted them. David jumps up, fixing his hair and his clothes before opening the door. Gwen stood on the other side, leaning on the door frame. Her focus hones in on David's flustered expression then at the other man in the room.

“Good morning, love birds. Sorry but I kind of need David,” she grabs onto his wrist. The brunette isn’t given a second to bid him farewell when he’s pulled forward. Before he could close the door, he thinks he hears Daniel snarl at them as they leave the cabin.

“Good morning too, Gwen!” David chirps, righting himself after being dragged by his friend.

“I believe you had fun last night?” She says. It was an innocent question but images of last night flashed before his eyes. _A lot_.

He cleared his throat. “Daniel’s a good companion. In fact, he didn’t bother me much. Slept through the night like a baby,” he laughs. Gwen looks at him over her shoulder. She narrows her eyes at him, seeing through him. His laugh sputters to a stop.

“You are so whipped,” she mutters before entering the mess hall.

“Ah, David! Back from your honeymoon with that monster?” Max shouts the moment he walks in. Space Kid, ever the sweetheart tugs on his hand to pull him to their circle. They were all eating together.

“How many times do I need to clarify?” David frowns at them. “There is nothing going on between us,” he says. Max is rolling his eyes, murmuring insults probably aimed at him. Gwen sits beside him and hands him the water jug. They eat, thankfully letting the topic of him and Daniel go. Preston’s yapping and presenting ideas on quality entertainment. Apparently, they were all getting bored of doing the same stuff. David smiles but doesn’t join in on their banter. Neil’s arguing why it was necessary for their survival; that they had no time for entertainment.

"Yes, and let boredom kill us in the end," Preston sighs.

"I don't wanna die like that!" Space Kid yelps.

“We should do theater!” Preston shouts, startling the group.

“You dumbfuck, did you consider a headcount? There are only six of us,” Max scoffs. “Plus David’s boyfriend if you're planning to do a gay Romeo and Juliet. No need to worry about killing Julio—he's already dead,” he spits out.

“Can you please stop calling him that?!” David snaps. They look at him in surprise. He hesitates, “We’re not—“

“Oh, I’m sorry. Would you prefer lover or fuck buddy?” Max scowls. Some of them gasp. It elicits a frown from him. He’s had quite enough of his attitude.

“Max, that’s inappropriate of you to infer.” He isn’t swayed when Max stands up; isn’t swayed when he points a finger at him and spouts more insults. David feels the pressure build up, adding onto the burden he’s stacking against him. He pushed the voices back but that didn’t mean they were gone. Max’s voice seemed to be the loudest of them all. He apologizes and stands up abruptly, leaving the circle.

“They’re just kids,” Gwen comes up behind him a moment later. “Don’t let Max get under your skin.”

“I try not to,” he mumbles. He leans on the kitchen counter and taps his fingers on the surface. “He’s not actually my boyfriend, you know that, right?” He hopes this is all a cruel joke on him. They don’t know what happened last night. They’re making speculations. They know nothing.

“Yes, I do,” she rolls her eyes. “But the way you’re acting towards him _does_ make it look like you’re into him,” she says.

“And how do I act toward him?” David frowns at her. She leans on the kitchen counter and props her elbows on it.

“You look at him like he’s one helluva creation God made. You’re touchy with him. Like, I’ve seen you by the lake yesterday, David. Don’t give me that look.” She nudges him when he opened his mouth, ready to retort. “And if your face is any indication, you’ve been blushing a lot more recently. It’s not every day that happens. Actually, you do get flustered by a lot of things,” Gwen pretends like she’s contemplating something.

“It’s that bad, huh?” David leans on the counter and rubs his face.

“Yeah. You’ve finally reached a new low, David. Hitting on semi-dead people? I never thought you were into that,” she deadpans. David hides in his hands.

 “I’m being funny. We’re both adults here!” Gwen snickers. “Don’t hide from me, David.” She pokes him in his side and he yelps. And just like that, the atmosphere lightens. He converses with her lightly, asking if the wall they tried to build yesterday was successful. He offers his thoughts on the wall and she listens. Boulders were heavy but they did make great barricades. They could chop down trees but it would take time. They diverted from their talk of barricades to what it would be like if Jasper were with them. He too had been a good friend of David’s. It hurts to think what became of him. Their conversation was cut when they hear someone yell from outside.

“It’s Max!” yells Space Kid.

“Max?” David spins around, eyes trying to locate the boy. He wasn’t among the group. He was gone.

“He kind of slipped out a while ago,” Preston looked down abashedly. “He told us to be quiet about it while you guys talked.”

“And you let him?!” Gwen stormed past the kids, flings the door open and runs. David’s hot on her heels and sees Max on his butt, backing away from the cabin. They call out to him. David’s blood runs cold when he realizes the door to the cabin is blown wide open.

“Max!” Gwen rushes to the boy and helps him up. David stops when he sees the blonde sitting calmly on the threshold of the cabin, looking down on them like they were a waste of his time. From the background, he can hear Max babbling, admitting he might've gotten a bit curious about Daniel and why David's so smitten with a freak like him. He might have said some things to him—most likely insults about him and David—and described how Daniel reared back like an animal and lunged at him.

David walks up to the cabin, trying to reign in his annoyance with the boy. He gives Daniel a disappointed look. The blonde shrugs at him like _what was I supposed to do? He started it_.

“Daniel, that wasn’t very nice,” he squats and looks at Daniel in the eye. The other grimaces at him. “You weren’t really going to come after him, were you?” David asks genuinely afraid that Daniel wanted to tear Max’s head off.

“You fucking nincompoop, of course he was!” Max yelled from behind him.

The man glares at the boy, but a wicked smile spreads on his lips. He turns back to the brunette innocently and shakes his head. David stands up and that’s when he sees the mess. Gwen had quieted too and was looking at David knowingly.

There were drag marks on the wooden floor from where the metal bed frame was pulled. Daniel’s still chained to it, but he doubts it provided a hindrance when he’s planning to attack. Seeing the disarray, they both knew Daniel could’ve crossed the boundary to get to Max if he wanted to. Instead, he paused by the doorway.

“David, I thought you had him under control,” Gwen’s voice rang out.

“Him? Under control? All he has is a leash on him. David can’t do shit when he’s busy ogling at him!” Max scowls.

“I do,” ignoring Max, he helps Daniel up and heads back inside the cabin to grab his bat—shame hits him as he becomes aware that he forgot to retrieve it after their cuddling session last night. He can feel his friend’s burning gaze on him.

“He didn’t cross the entryway like you said,” he points at the threshold. A small thought arises. _Daniel was abiding by Gwen's rules_. He turns to the blonde as the realization hit him. Daniel's looking at him smugly. He feels a sick sense of pride for him.

“He almost attacked Max—“

“Max is almost seven feet away from him. He didn’t come out of the cabin. Max, did you enter the cabin?” David defends, upset that they’re painting Daniel as the villain. _Max shouldn’t have come here in the first place_ , he thinks. The boy glares but shakes his head.

“That fucker just jumped and gave me a fucking fright,” he grumbles out embarrassedly.

“Gwen, take him back to the mess hall,” David sighs, ushering Daniel back inside the cabin when Gwen nods. She leaves hesitantly but Max is all too happy to leave the scene. He unchains Daniel from the bed and tells him it’s rude of him to do that, even if he were doing it to scare him. Daniel’s glaring at the floor, unhappy with being scolded. He lightens up when David pulls his face up to look him in the eye. The brunette was shyly grinning.

“But I admit, that was kinda funny to see Max scared out of his wits,” he laughs and buries his head in Daniel’s good shoulder. “I’m mean for saying this but he deserved the scare,” David says absentmindedly into his shoulder. He smiles when he hears the other man laugh.

In a way, David’s grateful he didn’t come after Max. But he’s more than happy to set Daniel loose, if only to scare the disobedience away from Max. _That would teach him_ , his wicked thoughts whisper.

“He’s quite difficult to handle. I’m sorry about that,” he says. Daniel grunts in agreement and writes something on his hand.

‘Asshole’

David bursts out laughing. He tries to put on a straight face as he pulls away. “Language, Daniel. That’s rude of you.” The man rolls his eyes. _So childish_ , David thinks and smiles. _Gosh, I really am whipped_.

He doesn’t leave the cabin for a day, busy accompanying Daniel. He believes the more affectionate he is, the more his human side is starting to slip free from the virus. David's enveloped with temptation again—and he yields to it. Even a fool could see how smitten he was with the other man. Daniel reciprocated, doing nothing to help stop the brunette's growing desires for him.

It’s about afternoon when he brings up the question he’s been meaning to ask. Before they got interrupted by Gwen that morning, what did Daniel plan to tell him? It takes a moment for Daniel to answer. He holds David’s face with one hand and caresses his cheek, an act that makes the other go red. He explains to the brunette that the only other way they can be together is if...

“If I became like you?” David asks, rereading the words Daniel wrote on his palm. His back goes rigid as he thinks of getting infected. Was Daniel asking if he’d consent to being bitten? He pulls his hand away a bit panicked. He didn’t want to die yet. David has come this far. Deep breaths. Daniel’s reaching out to him. He almost refuses but the pleading look on his face makes him relent.

Daniel further explains the process.  A bite is, of course, the obvious way to go. Daniel explains that any direct fluid contact is enough to convert him. It'll work faster if the injury is done closer to the brain; the neck and the shoulder are both good options. Talking about the infection like it was an option David can choose to be part of doesn't sit right with him. It's scary and he hasn't been given enough time to think about it. He can't bring himself to do it, no matter how much he wanted Daniel for himself. He had so much to live for. He has friends he can’t leave behind.

He keeps reading. Daniel has started to write faster but time still passes by slowly with each letter that’s written. He says David has a chance to become only half a corpse, just like him. He believes he’s strong enough. Daniel was fueled by wrath when he first woke up. Emotional attachment had a way of anchoring him down to his human side. Daniel believes if David had something anchoring him down, the virus won't completely consume him.

He entices the idea by saying the pain will only last a few minutes. A dull throbbing in his head and the wound that’s susceptible to the virus. Then soon, he’ll be immune to pain. There was a downside though. The virus is like another soul wrestling him for control of the body. He'll have second thoughts, get dizzy, and get certain... urges. Again, Daniel tells him as long as they're together, he'll be there at his weakest.

This was the only way to be with him. If he spoke his language and lived through his misery. If he changed his fate. This is the way to Daniel’s decaying heart.

Did David want this?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sort of incorporated that AU someone did on tumblr where Daniel's with the woodscouts (that's still a cool AU btw)


	8. Diverge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit late but Merry Christmas y'all! Your comments have warmed my heart this holiday. Inspired me to keep writing even as I'm busy with... some other conflicts in life.  
> So um, I wrote a time skip cause I figured I can't write each day that happens. It's just a couple days anyway to get stuff moving. And as for the ending....  
> I'm getting there.  
> Oh, more illustrations! ^^ some danvid stuff at the end of the chapter.

Daniel’s words plague his head. He wants to forget his offer but how could he if he surrounds himself with Daniel’s presence? It’s like David’s asking for it. The other man is sending him over the edge; slowly pushing him to it, enticing him. Blinding him with his sweet smiles and affectionate touches. He displays them only when they’re alone. David likes to think that Daniel’s aware the group won’t be so welcoming of them being hands on with each other.

Although the group has joked about it, it’s a completely different thing from confirming their status to the public. Gwen even said so. He’d be out of his mind to fall for someone infected.

 _Toss me in the looney bin then, how about that?_ He thinks sarcastically. Even he’d admit his relationship with the man is unorthodox. Maybe that’s what makes their affair so intoxicating.

The fact that it’s unlawful and twisted makes the sin all the more sweeter. He’s irresistible to the temptation. David believes he’s finally discovered something within him that corrupts his character. Before the outbreak, he went about his life being the perfect, hard-working student. He’s got himself a job and even that, he plows through with a smile. He greets his co-workers a good morning, insusceptible to their pessimism. He avoids all the bad things that could potentially ruin his career and his life. He was almost the perfect working individual.

Until now. His job’s likely gone. Not of importance in their situation. He’s learning to deal with new problems—life threatening problems. On top of that, he’s romantically attached at the wrong time, with the wrong person. The flaw has come out to greet him. He wasn’t so perfect after all. He’s subjected to a desire so strange and new. It says something about David’s love life as he hasn’t been romantically attached since high school when he dated Bonquisha. Even then, it was more platonic than lustful.

Daniel was the epitome of lust.

David’s learning to accept these new feelings for him. It’s a flaw about himself he’s willing to accept. At every stroke, at every touch, he feels himself caving in. The hint that something dark is hiding under the surface of their frequent physical contact both scares him and turns him on. Call him a masochist.

He gives him all the time in the world. A day or two pass by and he’s grown fond of Daniel’s company. When they share a moment communicating, David feels like he’s unraveling more of Daniel. They weren’t just communicating. They were feeling and brewing up the tension between them.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the brunette ignores the camp altogether. He’s closer with the kids, more open to Gwen, and helpful with their plans of making the camp a habitable place. The occasional problem does arise but he and Gwen take care of them.

Over the course of time, they trained the kids to defend for themselves. The camp came equipped with so many things—tools, medicine, even weapons—that David started to wonder what this place really was back when it was up and functioning. There were other illegal substances in plastic containers and jars he didn’t dare touch. Didn’t seem too family friendly, now that he thinks about it. Ultimately, camp has been improving and so is the group. The small wall the kids and Gwen built is in progress and Daniel’s been proving himself useful whenever they exited the premises of their territory.

It started when the group emerged from camp to scope out the area beyond the forest. He had Daniel on a leash while the others stayed far back from him. The duo went ahead since they were the ones who explored most before they hid in the cave. Nothing but trees and more trees. There were clearings but they were most likely driveways that pointed to the camp. They encountered trouble one day with a pack of them—the infected. Gwen and the kids have strayed too far and Space Kid had been backed into a corner. Before David could raise his weapon, Daniel had stepped forward. Something about his presence made the infected back away as he retrieved the frightened boy. David stood still as his companion walked back with Space Kid unharmed. The poor boy looked ready to faint. Daniel led the group of them back to safety, eyeing down those who dared come closer, looking like Moses parting the red sea.

So the virus _did_ yield to those more dominant, at least from what they’ve gathered. Daniel seems to be the only corpse able to do what he can do. It must be because the virus isn’t working effectively on him and this confuses the others. So far, they’re using it to their advantage. Nobody holds the chain but David. Gwen changed her rules and now allows him outside the cabin, but only under David's surveillance. Sort of like payment for his act of kindness towards Space Kid. The young boy had been eager to approach them after the incident. Whenever Daniel was outside, Space Kid wouldn’t hesitate to come near him, repeating his thanks and being awed at meeting someone infected up close.

He truly was a sweet kid. Max hasn’t changed his opinion about him. Preston and Neil keep quiet, but the latter’s been trying to find out what caused the undead to submit to Daniel as if he was some supreme being. He questions David the most but sometimes, he’d watch from afar and write things down in his notebook—something he carries around whenever they produce plans and bring up ideas.

David’s trying to keep his distance. He tries to do it for the sake of not grabbing suspicion from the group. Surely, if he stayed and slept in the cabin with Daniel for consecutive nights, they’ll catch on. He switches time to time, sleeping in the mess hall with the others then back to Daniel’s cabin.

“To further observe him and find out what makes him superior among the rest,” he says.

Gwen’s heard enough of his excuses to roll with it. David often wonders if she had an idea what’s going on between him and Daniel. It was something he had to bring up eventually. _No secrets_ , he remembers guiltily. He fails even as a friend. But how could he bring it up? There never seems to be a right moment. His feelings were also jumbled up, what with Daniel’s offer in the way.

He knew more than felt it when Daniel held himself back. Something about his actions seemed restrained, like he’s wanting more but is hesitating. David observes the way he moves. Daniel combs his red hair back, fingers lingering a second too long in his locks. He nuzzles his shoulder, often pausing and inclining away. Something was troubling him.

“Daniel, is anything... wrong?” he asks him one day. They were assigned to keep watch as Gwen and Neil worked on the wall of rocks. They were distanced from the others so he figured it was okay to bring it up. The blonde looks at him confused and tilts his head. David chances a glance back at the two who were talking and working. He feels like he should be the one helping Gwen except they didn’t entrust the kids to hold Daniel’s leash. He continues in a low voice.

“Do you... uh,” he hesitates. “I don’t know,” he looks away, stumbling over his words.

“Is something wrong with me?” David asks. “I mean, the obvious answer is yes. I’m kind of into... you,” Daniel raises an eyebrow. Did he look offended?

“Not that it’s an insult! The whole life or death situation still bothers me,” David continues to stutter. He puts a hand on the nape of his neck, trying to calm himself down. “Gosh, why is this so hard? What I mean to say is, no, I’m not alright. I should be open to Gwen about this. Most especially her. I can’t figure out my feelings. Heck, I don’t know where to start.”

Daniel steps toward him but David raises his hand. He looks back at the group. They were busy but that didn’t mean one of them won’t look around and catch them being too close for comfort. He takes his hand into his own.

‘What do you feel for me?’

David instantly goes red. He didn’t expect him to be this straightforward. "You know, I wish we learned sign languages instead. It's a lot more efficient," he chuckles uneasily. He’s got his hand in a grip. Daniel’s looking at him expectantly. _Answer the question_ , his expression said.

The brunette swallows down his anxiety. "Honestly? I feel a lot of things for you." Oh gosh, he’s doing it. He’s putting his feelings into words. He feels like he’s brought all the way back to high school and remembers the embarrassing confrontation with Bonquisha. That had nothing on their current situation. It makes his face burn hotter.

"I feel a lot of things when I'm with you. It's just... I've never felt anything like it before." Golly, he can see him smirking. Daniel’s tilting his head, smiling at him encouragingly but it only fans the flames.

“Stop it. Stop looking at me like that!” David brings his hands to his face and rubs. He can practically feel the warmth emanate from his cheeks. “Ugh, the things you do to me,” he exhales loudly. He hears the other chuckle. The chain rattles as he walks closer.

“I guess I’m just on edge lately. Thinking about a lot of stuff,” his hand burns where Daniel’s touches. Cold and comforting. He’s swirling his fingertip on his palm, causing his whole arm to tingle. _Just the touch of him_... and David unravels so easily.

‘Considering the offer?’

This brings his mood down. Frowning, he considers what to say next. Of course David’s been thinking about the offer. It ate at him day and night, when he sleeps in Daniel’s embrace, when he talks to his friends, when he’s out to get some fresh air. It was always at the back of his mind. What would it be like to leave the life he’s accustomed to? To see the world through virus-ridden eyes and have something eat away at him slowly—only to become Daniel’s?

“Every day,” he admits, looking downcast. “You're giving me some kind of ultimatum here. It's not exactly something I'd throw my life away for,” he pauses, hurt seeping into him. He looks up at the blonde and sees the similar expression. Daniel lets go of his hand.

“Can’t we stay like this?” he blurts out. David’s aware how selfish he sounded. It was a shot at the dark, suggesting something like that. It was unfair. Live while Daniel decayed in a few weeks? Months? _Being bitten was his first mistake. He wasn’t careful enough. Didn’t choose his friends wisely_ , his thoughts murmured. David’s got a whole life ahead of him. _You could move on from him once you never see him again_ , his thoughts tell him. His chest constricts with grief.

Daniel didn’t choose to die. It was unfortunate of him to be stuck with the wrong people, but he never asked for this fate. He shoos the thoughts away.

“Maybe... maybe you could defeat it. You're already strong, aren’t you? Maybe all you need is a push and you’ll... you’ll be okay,” his voice comes out hoarse. His eyes burn. David was so desperate to save him—to save a dead man.

Daniel looks at him with pity, sadness in his eyes. He shakes his head. Silence envelopes them. David’s refusing to meet his eyes. His hand starts fidgeting with the chain. Daniel’s not meant to be his. He was never supposed to fall for him. Why was the world so cruel? It tore him apart from people he loved—people he cared about. It made him the prey in this apocalyptic world. It gave him a taste of something he could never truly have, unless in death.

“So, this is the only way then? Kill myself and hope I get reanimated like you; function like you and hope the virus doesn’t completely take over me.” A bitter laugh emits from his throat. Daniel takes his hand again and scribbles something down.

‘I’ll be there’

“I know, it’s just...”

“David, Gwen kind of needs your- oh,” another voice takes him by surprise.

His hand separates from Daniel as if it’s been burnt. He clears his throat and silently pleads Daniel to back away. When he located the source of the sound, he saw Neil looking at them skeptically. Did he witness their exchange? David felt the atmosphere choke the air from his lungs.

Neil purses his lips. “As I was saying, Gwen requires your help.”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.” He looks at Daniel, contemplating whether to lead him back to his cabin or bring him with him. He settled for the latter as he passed by Neil, taking note of how he examined the blonde for seconds too long. When he arrives to where his friend was waiting, she was wiping the sweat off her brow. The wires that were tied around the trees’ trunks looked sharp and gnarled, just like the ones wrapped around his bat.

“See anything out there?” Gwen asked over her shoulder as she inspected their work. Her fingers grazed the wires softly, careful not to get a cut. David almost winced.

“It’s clear.” He said, approaching with Daniel. Gwen looks at them fully and he can see something bothered her. Neil passed them by without a backwards glance, entering the mess hall where Max and the others stayed. Over the past few days, they’ve learned to let them go unsupervised. It still made David uneasy, letting them walk free like that. But hopefully, their training would kick in in time for them to save their own skins when the time came for it.

“Can I speak to you alone?” Gwen asks. David looks around, area isolated from the others. His best friend looks at him pointedly as if he were dense and gestured to Daniel.

“Oh! Sure. Daniel, I’ll see you later?” He offered, looking back at the man.

“I’m not sure if there’ll be a later,” Gwen interrupts them. David looks sharply up at her. She coughs and looks at the ground. “This might take a while.” She said.

David’s shoulders sagged. He nodded grimly but didn’t fail to put up a smile. “I hope that’s okay with you, Daniel.” He walks away before he sees the disapproving look on Gwen’s face. After chaining Daniel back up, he departs from the cabin and finds Gwen lurking near the mess hall. She motions for him to follow her behind the mess hall where they sit with their backs on the wall. This was where David was lured to those nights ago; where he found Daniel standing by.

“How are things?” He asks first. His fingers brush against the dry leaves on the ground as he drops his bat. He wipes the dirt off on his jeans and hugs his knees to his chest.

“You’re with me 24/7. You’d know the answer to that,” he hears a small huff of laughter. “I’m doing relatively good.”

“That’s great. So am I,” David smiles. “And the kids. This is almost like a safe haven. We haven’t seen a horde since half a week ago. Trouble comes and goes, but thanks to Daniel, we could basically maneuver around them without trouble.”

“That’s what I want to talk about with you.” She exhales like it weighed her down for a while now.

“About... this place?” He asks, head leaning on the wall as he looks at her. She shakes her head.

“Have you been feeling anything lately?” she asks, eyes on the ground.

“What... do you mean?” David asks carefully.

“I’m asking if you feel like anything’s… wrong with you,” she frowns. She relaxes against the wall and looks at him with her troubled purple eyes. Once so steely and unforgiving, now only held care and concern for him. Her eye bags seemed to be deepening.

“Have you been getting enough sleep?” he narrows his eyes.

“David, that’s not what we’re focusing on right now.” She rubs her eyes as if wanting to pry his attention away from them.

“It’s cause I’ve been going to Daniel’s cabin, isn’t it? You’re forced to watch out for the kids. I… when was the last time I took your post?” He mumbles under his breath like he’s connecting the pieces. He was the cause of his friend’s worried lines on her face.

“It’s not important. But about Daniel…” Gwen takes a deep breath. “I fear that it’s taking a toll on you.”

He gazes at her confusedly. David was perfectly fine if not, a bit ecstatic when around the blonde. _A bit too ecstatic_ , his mind corrects. This time he’s able to stop himself from blushing. His silence makes her continue.

“You’ve been... staying in his cabin for a while now. For “observing purposes”, you say. Let’s be real, there is not a day where you don’t observe him in daylight. Whatever your purpose is, I’m getting a bit worried here.” She sighs. “Which brings me back to my first question. Have you been feeling anything?”

“Uh, I don’t think so. I feel the same,” his eyebrows furrow. _Where’s Gwen going with this?_

“I think it’s unhealthy for you to stay in one room with... him. For a long period of time,” she emphasizes, eyes looking for some sort of reaction from him—which she succeeds in getting. He gets panicky, thinking she snuck up on them at one point and saw their intimate exchanges.

“I- I’m- I’ve no idea what you’re going on about,” he curses himself for stammering. “Daniel and I are in a perfectly platonic relationship with each other and we stay at an appropriate distance away from each other when we sleep. In his cabin,” he averts from her prying gaze.

She raises an inquisitive eyebrow. “Platonic.” She pauses. “That’s… good. You should be keeping your distance,” she shifts in her seat and copies his knee-hugging position. “Who knows what kind of virus you’ll get from him from being in the same room.”

“Wait, virus?” he couldn’t help meet her eyes. “As long as Daniel isn’t biting me or-” Daniel’s words echo in his head— _direct fluid contact_. There are other ways. He bites his lip. “He’s done nothing to harm me,”

“Yeah but goddamn it, David. Who knows what this virus is capable of doing? It could be airborne for all we know and you’ve been inhaling the same air as him longer than we have.” She brings her gloved hands up to her face, rubbing sleepless nights off her eyes.

“Not true. The cabin has broken windows,” he says. “It’s not like we recycle the same air we breathe in the room.”

“It’s not about recycling air. This is something the doctors haven’t been given the chance to find a cure yet. Not even scientists have brought news to the people. Or anyone! We’re on our own and we’ll see this virus evolve first hand. This could be in the air or… worse. What if we all had it and it’s just taking its time until contact from other pathogens activates it?” David puts a hand on her knee, seeing her starting to rock on her heels.

“Your theories could be right,” he says. He massages her knee as she practices breathing normally. “But to reassure you, I’m not feeling sick.” He smiles. “I’ll stop sleeping in his cabin for a while if it helps calm you down.”

“Calm me down? David, I’m fucking scared for you!” She brings a hand down roughly on his. He can feel her shaking.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have put it like that.” He looks down at their hands, lips trembling. He really was a terrible friend. He grabs her hand and pulls it to his chin. “ _I’m_ scared for _you_.”

“H-huh?” Gwen blinks.

“You’re tearing yourself apart over this. You overthink things the most- which!” he adds when she opened her mouth to protest. “… is a good thing. It keeps us alive. We’ve come this far, haven’t we?” he holds her hand in a comforting gesture.

“We have,” she echoes.

“I appreciate your concern for me, Gwen.” He smiles at her reassuringly. “But trust me when I say I know what I’m doing,” he can feel bile rise up, sick at himself for lying. Just to cease her anxiety. “I won’t… do anything stupid that might get me killed.” His eyes burn as tears spill forth. He looks down at his feet. He was lying to her. He knew he’s been making stupid decisions. _Why are you lying to your best friend?!_ He inhales sharply when Gwen’s hand entangles from him to wipe his cheek.

“Promise?” her voice is soft. David’s hand comes up to close around hers. He can’t bear to look at her.

“I’ll try,” he says weakly.

“No,” she turns in her seat. “I need you to _do_ , not try.”

He starts sniffling. He didn’t trust his voice so he settled for nodding. His fingers close around her hands, trying to even his breathing.

“But,” she adds. She tilts her head to the side, trying to catch his eye. “There’s something else I’ve been meaning to ask seriously. About you and Daniel,” this makes him hold his breath.

As if sensing his tension, her voice comes out almost light as a whisper. “What do you feel for him?” It was the same question Daniel wrote on his palm. David loses it. He makes a small noise at the back of his throat as tears cascade down his cheeks, staining his shirt wet. Soon, he’s enveloped in familiar warmth. Gwen’s squeezing him and he’s gripping onto her. _She knew. She knew there was something between them_. His thoughts fill his head.

“I…” his hiccups interrupt him. Gwen’s massaging his back. David’s aware this wasn’t the best place to be releasing everything. They could be caught off guard and the infected might come up behind them anytime. But the pressure had been so much and he knew he’s just a dam waiting to explode.

He’s sputtering apologies one after the other. He’s an incoherent mess, digging deep into his best friend. Gwen holds him like the night they’ve lost everything. Cameron. The group. Darla. Everything rushes back to him. So he spills.

“I know I’m not supposed to. It’s wrong. I’m not supposed to-“ he repeats. Gwen’s hand on his back slows down.

“David, he’s infected.” He can hear the frown in her voice. He buries himself deeper on her shoulder. He mumbles an “I know.” She breathes out slowly and tries to pull back. David’s not ready to look her in the eye.

“Becoming attached is just as bad—if not, worse than being in the same room as him. How... can I trust you with this, David?”

“I’m trying to fight it,” he says weakly. She disentangles herself from him and stands up abruptly. He fears she’s had enough of their conversation. He opens his mouth to say something but then she starts walking.

“David, I just want you to watch out for yourself. You’re driving me insane here,” she says without looking back. Gwen unsheathes her machete and that’s when David realizes they weren’t alone. He wipes his face dry and stands.

“I’m sorry,” the words have been repeated so many times, it’s starting to lose its meaning. Gwen manages to hack the poor thing, bringing it down to its knees. The brunette inspects the area, wary of others. David cried so much he probably attracted them here. How pathetic was he? He makes a move toward her but Gwen brings a hand up.

“Let me,” she grounds out. Another one pops up and another joins in.

David’s bat feels heavy in his hand. Gwen’s already rushing to the next, machete propelling to slice. She evades his grabs and with one swing, beheads him. David’s frozen on the spot as he watches. She was a tornado. She doesn’t hesitate and turns on her heel. Before the corpse’s mouth could close around her hand, her machete cuts through its head. Blood splatters everywhere, coating her clothes and her weapon. The lifeless body falls with a sickening thud. She’s heaving, hunched over and staring at the corpse.

“Gwen-“ he stops. David realizes this was her way of letting it out. She was mad. And she was making her way back to him. The side of her face is covered in dark blood. David reaches out to wipe it away as Daniel’s words came back to him.

 _What if she got a speck of blood in her eye?_ He starts panicking.

“Gwen, we need to wash you up-“ his whole being freezes. Over her shoulder, he sees a small lone figure emerge from the trees. A kid—walking on unsteady feet, disfigured and hair covering half her face. It’s her hair that reminds David who she is. Gwen senses his alarm and turns. She too goes still. They watch as the girl with green hair and red overalls stagger toward them. Her mouth is open, drool mingling with what looks to be dried blood drips from her lips.

The duo backs up. This was their friend. The one they were too late to save.

Any moment now, she’d reach them. She was close enough for them to see what the bite had done. Her assailant had chewed her shoulder down to her chest. Little white spots moved—David comes to a nauseating realization the wound was infested with maggots. It was a disgusting sight, to see someone this young be devoured by such a thing.  

“Nikki,” he remembers her name. They had forgotten her in the woods when they saved the others. It didn’t register at the time that she would come back to life. David’s throat closes up. Gwen doesn’t move.

He takes the machete from her. She lets him. His fingers close around the familiar warm handle, the weight light and easy to maneuver. He puts the blade on her chest once she’s within reach. She was weak against it, feebly trying to reach David. He sends a silent prayer above and gives her the quick death she deserved.

He goes down on one knee, eyes burning as a tear falls on her body. Gwen’s hand catches him on the shoulder, easing him up. She was murmuring words of assurance to him. David tries to get lost in her voice. His ears pick up on something else and he swivels around. Dried leaves crunch as another pair of feet run.

“Who’s there?” Gwen asks, voice scratchy. She too had been affected by what happened. No one replies. David and Gwen look at each other, then sprints. They get around the mess hall and the door opens. Preston walks out, looking around until his eyes settle on them. The duo stared.

“Preston?” David asks cautiously. The boy’s eyes are wide with alarm.

“I just saw Max run to the forest. Did something happen?” Preston asks, looking from one adult to the other. David’s blood turns to ice.

“Alone?” he asks. Preston nods.

“He was outside for a while and the gang started to get worried. We tried watching him through the window. He looked frightened and ran-“

“Goddamn it!” Gwen shouts, scaring Preston. She springs to action at a moment’s notice. David tells Preston to lock the door; to keep it locked if they don’t come back once the sun sets. David doesn’t wait a second to see him nod as he follows Gwen deep into the woods.

 


	9. Sacrifice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what's worse than plotting out the ending to your fanfic? The fact that I really want to write a sequel to a really sad story (woops) but can't. It might make up for the incoming hurt BUT it takes time and plotting it all out. I'll have to dedicate my free time to it, if I wanna make the sequel just as successful xD  
> But hmmm ain't a bad idea too. I'll think on it once I get some air to breathe.  
> Keep in mind this _is_ set in a zombie apocalypse. It's not going to be all sugar, spice, and everything nice. Just wanted to put that warning up before proceeding. Yeaaaah.  
>  Sorry for postponing this chapter a bit. I'm trying to figure out how I'll separate the events on this chapter from the next. The next chapter may just be the last. *sweats* I've been sick for the past few days too. Got the measles ;;-;; best way to spend the new year. So uh.. sorry if the last chapter'll take a while.
> 
>    
> Also, @just_.friends on instagram just drew amazing trad fanart of David from this fanfic! To be seen at the end of this chapter^^ David is super adorbs!

**MAX**

He runs as fast as his little feet could take him. The hard edge of the dagger he slipped on his person dug into his hip. Max knew to arm himself before going out of the mess hall—something David’s forgetting to do lately. _He’s slipping more and more_ , he thinks. _Because of that bastard, Daniel. David can’t control himself around him_. His disgust mars his facial expression.

He doesn’t stray too far from camp. He can hear their voices from a short distance. He makes a sharp turn and hides. Max steadies his breathing as he waits for them to come. His stomach isn’t faring any better. He knew—well, he’s been told of Nikki’s unfortunate accident. But to see her standing there, disfigured yet still walking on her barely steady feet, it dawns on him how cruel this virus is.

It opened his eyes to the world; what really was happening. _This is some serious shit_ , he thinks. Anyone of them could get infected, only to be brought back to life. _But they’re not alive. They’re fucking dead._ He reigns in his tears as he reminisced about his friend. Out of all of them, he didn’t expect Nikki to be the first to turn. She had so much energy and looked least likely to get caught by those rotting excuses of a human being.

If anything, he expected Space Kid to be the first.

“Max!” he’s jolted from his thoughts as Gwen’s voice rings out.

“Max, please!” David’s desperate cry follows.

He huddles closer to the big tree, trying to squeeze himself into it. He clutches the handle of the dagger tightly, hoping it will provide him enough strength. _Nikki could’ve cut through them with this. She would’ve learned faster than any of us_. He shakes the thoughts of his friend away as his ears hone in on racing footsteps. He quiets his thoughts as if his mind was loud enough for Gwen and David to locate him.

“Do you hear anything?” David asks desperately. He hears Gwen sigh dejectedly.

“No,” she says.

“We have to keep looking!” his footsteps run past his location. Max visibly relaxes. Soon enough, he hears Gwen follow, yelling at him to wait for her.

Max waits for several seconds. Everything mentally exhausted him. He doesn’t want to live in a world infested with people trying to eat each other. He doesn’t want to deal with the hurt that comes when he sees his friends inevitably meet their end. And to see Nikki... he was slightly grateful for David making it a quick and clean slice to the throat. He couldn’t bear to see her more damaged than she already was.

The boy stands but stays completely still as his eyes focus on something in the distance. A silhouette of a man—no, two men. They were too far to see him and Max was too exhausted to contemplate whether or not they’re a threat. He needed to go back to the mess hall before Gwen and David find him.

He needed to tell the others. _I should’ve listened to my instincts. Nothing good came out of sitting still and letting the grown-ups do the work_. He trudged back to camp, wary of his surroundings.

Daniel is a threat.

He should’ve ended him before he could lure them into his trap. Max hadn’t the strength to hold the dagger against him. He went to his cabin that day to see the monster he truly was underneath all those layers. Surely, Daniel put up an act around David, right? So Max had taunted him, tried to get the real demons out. It hadn’t been long before the blonde’s face contorted into something of ill-intent. He glared and Max admits he felt cold dread at the time. But it also proved him right. Daniel isn’t who he seemed to be. He swore he even _growled_ at him. When he sprung at him, Max had the common sense to back the fuck away. In those seconds as Daniel looked down on him from the entryway of the cabin, Max never felt so ashamed and angry. When David’s voice rang out, he saw the shift in Daniel’s expression immediately.

He hated him. Max swore he’ll bring nothing but misfortune to the camp. Ever since the incident, he’s been trying to study Daniel’s actions. He couldn’t mistake the chemistry developing between the redhead and this rotting corpse. Max was conflicted for a while. Seeing David happy made their situation a little more bearable. But seeing him falling for Daniel was also sickening.

He’s got to stop him, even if it meant wrenching this thing from David’s grasps. His emotions were in the way to their safety.

He bangs roughly on the mess hall door. “Guys, open this fucking thing! Boy, do I got some news!” he waits patiently as he hears them talking behind the door before Preston opens it. He walks in, effectively pushing Preston aside and leans on the door. He grabs the chain from him and hurriedly ties it around the handles.

“Max, what’s going on?” Space Kid’s obnoxious voice pipes up.

“You’re giving us quite the fright,” Preston says nervously.

After securing the door, he turns to the group in a slow 180. All of them were looking at him apprehensively. “We have to kill Daniel,” he says through his teeth. They look at him in shock, Space Kid most of all. They start asking questions, bombarding him with _that’s ridiculous!_ , _we can’t do that_ , and _you’re insane!_

“Have you really not considered him as a fucking threat?!” he yells at them. This shuts them up. “I’ve seen the real him. I got up close and personal with this asshole and he nearly bit my face off. What he shows David is different from what he really is,” he says.

“To be fair, anything that comes out of your mouth makes any of us want to bite your face off,” from the other side of the room, Neil leans away from the wall and makes his way toward the group.

“Yeah!” Space Kid grins, naïve to the insult.

“Wow, gee, thank you for justifying his actions,” Max rolls his eyes. “We have to do something about Daniel.” Already, plans are starting to formulate in his head. There was only one solution to exterminating the problem.

“Like what, expose him as the lying, conniving fraud he is?” Neil waves his hand. “I doubt David will even believe you.”

“What’s wrong with David?” Preston asks, looking back and forth from Max to Neil. It seems not everyone knew or was smart enough to make intelligent guesses.

“Let me spell it out for you,” Max heaves a breath and turns to look outside the boarded up window. No sign of the adults. _Good_. “Our friend’s becoming real attached to Daniel. Whatever he says, that bastard follows like a lost puppy. He gained his trust, only to lure him into something more unpleasant.” He frowns. Wow, he had feelings? And for once, he felt sympathy for the brunette.

“Unpleasant how?” Preston asks skeptically.

“I’m... not sure yet. But clearly, Daniel has a motive behind all this fake sweetness. If he’s got David to side with him, then our camp will be gone before we even know it. He could persuade him to leave us or I don’t know, make us join his legion of the undead. The possibilities are endless!” Max was ready to tear his hair out. How can they not understand the direness of their situation? Neil clears his throat and raises his hand.

“I’d like to add to your theory,” he says. Max scowls at him but nods anyway.

“A while ago, I caught them exchanging some pretty personal stuff. I had less than a second to analyze their proximity, what the physical contact meant, and the reactions on their faces before they saw me.” Neil points out.

“Get to the point, Neil.” Max groans. Leave it to him to be technical.

“Yes, I’m getting there, Maxwell,” Neil narrows his eyes at him. He knew just how to irritate him. He’s glad the other kid’s at the other side of the room or else Max would’ve pulled a Daniel and lunged at him. “As I was saying, David seemed to be troubled over something. They were holding hands but from the way Daniel touched his palm, I assume they were communicating.”

“Oh great, they’re holding hands too now.” Max comments but Neil proceeds like he didn’t hear him.

“Both parties looked... sheepish around each other. David wasn’t looking at Daniel even though he’s clearly less than three feet away. Daniel was downright brooding. When I caught them, they sprung apart like my presence surprised them—as if I caught them doing something illegal. Heck, David’s voice sounded like he was on the verge of tears. I studied Daniel and he looked just as perturbed.” Neil finishes.

“David and Daniel are together?” Space Kid stares at them with wide curious eyes. _Ugh_ , Max nearly facepalms.

“Maybe so. From what I can gather, David’s been distracted lately,” Neil frowns. “It must have something to do with his relationship with Daniel. What will you do with this piece of information, Max?” he turns to Max, just like the other two boys in the room.

“To justify my decision,” he says. He looks out the window and spies the cabin where Daniel resided. His hand curls into a fist. “If Daniel succeeds in whatever plan he has, it could affect either one of us.” He turns to the group.

Preston frowns. “How are you sure his plan even involves us?”

“If he’s using David, it’s got to harm either him or any of us.” His stomach churns. He felt sick to think that Daniel was using David’s infatuation for him to his advantages.

“Aren’t we going to talk about the elephant in the room?” Space Kid hollers. Max fixes him with a glare. The boy looks around like he was outnumbered. “What if you’re wrong? You’re only making guesses. We don’t really know for sure what they feel for each other, unless they declare it. And what about Daniel, huh? What if he isn’t the monster you painted him to be?” Space Kid furrows his eyebrows. “What if he genuinely cared for David?”

“Him? That lifeless being? He couldn’t possibly care for David!” Max regrets the words as soon as they were out. A small seed of doubt plants inside him. _What if Daniel_ did _care?_ He banishes the thought.

“And you’re so sure?” Preston narrows his eyes at him. “How would you justify him saving Space Kid then?” He gestures to the other boy. Space Kid nods enthusiastically.

“Daniel could’ve done it to win over David’s favor.” Neil spoke up. “Oddly enough, there are a lot of things you could do in a zombie apocalypse that makes you gain someone’s trust. Daniel saw the chance and took it.” Neil bites his lip. “Of course, this is just a theory. He didn’t let you die, after all.”

“He didn’t leave me for dead. That’s saying a lot!” Space Kid argues, tears welling up in his eyes as he looks at Neil and Max. “I think Daniel’s alive in there somewhere. And if David’s the only guy that can help him change, then I say go for it.” He crosses his arms, looking defiant.

Preston sighs. “Finding love in this cruel world, with an even crueler fate. Reminds me of—“

“No one asked for your opinion, Preston!” Max finally facepalms. “How could you romanticize such a disgusting thing?!”

“You better watch that mouth,” Preston grimaces. “Being gay isn’t disgusting. I think it’s wonderful!”

“I think he was pertaining to their... current life status?” Neil intercepts. Max sags in relief. _At least someone understands!_ He quiets them again and brings them back to their topic. He points out that David and Gwen are still out there looking for him.

“Oh, how kind of you to remind us. We thought they’ve been inconspicuously murdered by a certain someone to have this conversation right now.” Neil comments in sarcasm.

Max glares. “If you’re done?” he waits for the other to quiet. “Going back to the plan. We need to kill Daniel. And before you argue—“ he looks sharply at Space Kid. “This could potentially save David’s life. If we take Daniel out, David won’t be lured into whatever trouble he’s brewing anymore! This has some obvious downsides too. We’re going to have to deal with a brooding David and he may or may not hate us forever, but he’ll thank us later when we save him from Daniel’s evil clutches.” He looks at them in the eye, wanting to drill his words into their heads.

“I want to ask about those downsides.” Preston raises his question. “If you’re wrong about him, you’re getting in the way of something... personal. Whatever problem they’re facing is up to them, even if David’s safety is on the line.” Preston looks down, uneasy with their judging stares. “Well, saving David sounds better, actually.” He mutters under his breath.

He crosses the room and scavenges behind the kitchen counter where they hid their stuff. He plucks the weapons they’ve been using for training out and hands them to each of his members. Knife and dagger, all identical and made light for them to carry around. _Seriously, why does this camp even have such things?_ The thought crosses his mind but he’s quick to discard it soon as the others all stand in a straight line.

He stands before them like a leader and inspects each of them, from Preston to Space Kid. He walks confidently. “We cannot let Daniel live on any longer. We’ve kept him in this camp and for what? To ward off the zombies? No,” he stops before Space Kid and scowls at his apprehensiveness.

“He’s kept here ‘cause David’s dumb enough to fall for him.” He sneers at the boy. Space Kid looks away, lips quivering. Max turns away and walks down the line.

“You want to save David?” he asks no one in particular. He stalks toward the mattress on the floor where David and Gwen sleep on. He saw it the other day. He knew where they hid the gun. He lifts one corner of the mattress up and lets out a cry of triumph as he guesses right. He retrieves the pistol, suddenly feeling consumed by the weight of their plan. Max never killed anyone. But Daniel... will have to be an exception. _There’s a first time for everything._

“We need to get rid of the problem before it spreads,” he turns slowly, gun in hand. He makes sure to check if it’s loaded. He can’t run into battle with an empty gun. Preston and Neil look at it fearfully. Space Kid throws the dagger down.

“I’m not doing it!” he cries.

Max, for a horrifying second considers scaring him by aiming the gun at him. He quells that suggestion. He wasn’t that big of a dick. “Then you’ll make sure Daniel stays in place.” He unwinds the chains from the door.

“How can I do that?” he asks from behind.

“Whoa wait, we’re doing this now?!” Preston yells. Max’s hand rests on the door handles. They had to do this now. Who knew when their next chance could pop up?

“Yes.” He says with finality. With one hand, he pushes the doors open. The afternoon sun beats down on him as he waits for the group to emerge. Gun in hand and a dagger at his hip, he feels the adrenaline kick in. He was going to kill Daniel. He was finally going to end that bastard once and for all.

“You’re a smart kid,” he drawls. “Kiss up to him like you usually do. Get his guard down. Distract him, I don’t know.” Max turns to Space Kid.

“Uh, are you sure about this?” Neil asks carefully. “From what we’ve seen, Daniel is... quite the opponent to deal with.”

“Yeah. He’ll tear you all into pieces before you could raise that gun!” Space Kid throws at them. “And no, I won’t do that either. He saved my life. I have no reason to end his.” He stands by the doorway with arms crossed. Max sighs dramatically and saunters toward him.

“If you say so...” before the other could blink, he pushes Space Kid backwards. He lands with an _oof!_ Max hurriedly slams the doors close and holds onto the handles.

“Get me something that’ll block this door.” He says over his shoulder. Neil hands him a thick branch that’s big enough to slide within the loops. He lets go and smiles wickedly as Space Kid tries to open it. His voice from the inside is muffled.

“I don’t think that was necessary,” Preston nervously looks back at the door. Max shrugs.

“Relax, the least he could do is cry and yell at us when we get back. For now, we have some work do to,” he walks past them. Every step he took towards the direction of the cabin made his heart beat louder. He was nervous too, he realized. Max never fired a gun before. He’d likely miss at first, but what’s so hard about aiming at Daniel’s head and shooting? Blood pounded in his ears.

Until he realized it wasn’t.

“Max?” Neil’s voice interrupted him. Before he could ask, he hears the shattering of glass. The group turns around to see the window of the mess hall shattered, one of the boards thrown on the ground. Space Kid jumps through the hole he’s made. For a second, they stare, until Space Kid sprints to the woods.

_He’s going to get David to stop us_ , he realizes. Max scowls at his betrayal.

“Get him!” He commands them. Neil and Preston run after the boy. Max stays behind, gripping the gun. He had to do this now. He couldn’t let David see what he’s about to do. _He’ll never understand_ , he thinks. _I’m doing this for his own good. And for the good of the camp_.

 

* * *

 

 

David and Gwen had scoured within the camp’s vicinity. There was absolutely no sign of Max. David is filled with dread and wondered if the little boy found trouble as he was running. From the look on Gwen’s face, he knew she was thinking the same thing. They retraced their steps. Maybe he was hiding from them. But as the duo walked aimlessly, they soon came across the lake. The same lake that led to their camp. But something caught David’s eye and he ran to it. _Is it what I think it is?_ Despite Max’s absence, the thought of finding _this_ fills him with joy.

“David?” Gwen asked. He urged her to follow as he enters the clearing to the lake. He staggers to it and puts his hand on its wooden surface. He hears Gwen gasp.

“It’s a boat,” David says. He looks around it. It’s docked and certainly looked functional; no holes or leaks. Inside, there were two oars.

“Has it been here all this time?” Gwen asks, nearing him. David shrugs. They never thought of scouting the lakeside. David’s glad for the opportunity as they found something of value.

“We could row it to camp. Dock it by the piers. We could have a boat of our own!” David turns excitedly to Gwen. He sees her smile and he mirrors it. _This is great. What a stroke of luck we have! This boat could take us across the lake. Go to places, find other people._

As David climbs in, he faintly hears a set of feet running in their direction. Gwen takes out her weapon but upon seeing Space Kid, they relax. Gwen comes after the boy when he didn’t notice them. David watches him anxiously talk to Gwen as they both near the boat. He frets over what must’ve made the boy run all this way to find them. _Did something else happen back at camp?_ He sees the surprised look on Gwen’s face, until it morphs into solid anger.

“Space Kid, are you alright?” David reaches out to him. The boy runs into his arms sobbing. He looks over his shoulder at Gwen. Her taut expression worried him.

“Max is going to kill Daniel.” Gwen wastes no time climbing aboard and pulling Space Kid in. David couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He mutters a confused _what?_ until Gwen’s cold glare wakes him up from his reverie.

“He’s going to...” he swallows. David feels actual fear crawl up his spine. A hundred thoughts swirl in his head. _Protect Daniel. Why would Max do this? Daniel might fight back and bite him. Max can’t kill anyone_. The voices combine into a warning, a motivation for him to _stop Max_. Gwen hands him the other oar and together, they row back to camp in wide, urgent strokes. Dread pushes him to get there faster. Time was ticking.

“What happened, Space Kid?” He sternly asks the boy between him and Gwen. He starts his story by telling them of Max’s plan. He was worried for him and thought Daniel was a threat. He catches Gwen’s eye but she says nothing. She too thought of him as a threat, but she wouldn’t go far as to kill him, right? He gets to the part where Max hands them weapons and how he locked Space Kid inside the mess hall. David’s heart breaks. He didn’t know whether to feel sympathy for Space Kid, angry at Max for making rash decisions on his own, or scared for Daniel. He was feeling a mix of all of those and felt his stomach churn.

As soon as the camp was within their sights, David rushed to paddle and get the boat docked. Gwen urged him to go as she helped Space Kid up. Without hesitating, he ran. Ran and hoped to every god out there that he wasn’t late. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose Daniel. He was... special to him. He meant something. For the past few days, Daniel has definitely made a mark on him. And he won’t let Max take him away.

The door was open to Daniel’s cabin. Max was already inside. David clenched his fists and ran faster. There were no gunshots and he silently prayed that Max hasn’t fired yet. He hears Max’s voice from the inside, yelling at Daniel. When David gets there, he finds Max on the floor with a dagger raised. It was dripping with blood. On the other side of the room, Daniel’s clutching his arm. From his stained fingertips, David could deduce that he’s been cut. The chain still tied him to the bed frame, but even so, the bed frame has been moved from its original spot. How long has this been going on?

“Max, stop it!” David shouts. Their attention goes to him as he crosses the room and stands in between them. He takes Daniel’s arm slowly and inspects the wound. The cut wasn’t deep. He sighs and cups Daniel’s cheek. He didn’t care if Max was watching at the moment. _He’s fine. He didn’t shoot. He’s okay_. He repeats his thoughts as he regains his breathing. The events that led up to now both exhausted and scared him breathless. Daniel leans on his hand comfortingly.

“David, you have to understand that Daniel is a monster! Look at him!” Max shouts. Daniel turns away from David to glower at the boy.

“I am, Max. And you’re wrong.” He takes a deep breath. “Daniel would never hurt me.” He recalls Space Kid’s story and the reasoning behind Max’s actions. It warms his heart that the boy cared for his well-being—but killing Daniel wasn’t the solution.

“Really? You’re sure about that? What about the next time, he bites you? Where would you be then?” He hears him get up. “Dead! That’s what you’ll be, David! ‘Cause your stupid heart beats pathetically for him, you won’t even know when he’s taking advantage of you.”

“That’s quite enough, Max-“ he hears him cock a gun and swivels around. David’s eyes go wide.

“I’m sorry, David. This is for your own good.” Max glares at him as he aims it at the man behind him. The gun is wobbly in his unsteady hands.

“Max, you don’t need to do this—“

“Max, put it down!” Gwen appears with Space Kid in tow. Max doesn’t listen to them. He’s trembling, from nervousness or anger, David doesn’t know. The gun is still pointed at them. David tries to move toward him but before he could, he fires.

The fire rings in his ears. It’s deafening. Gwen’s shout comes as a blur. Everything slows to a stop as David feels his shoulder burn. _Did he… shoot me?_ He thinks in a panic. He touches his shoulder and hisses. The bullet missed him by a few centimeters. He staggers back. Upon looking at Daniel, slight relief fills him at seeing him intact.

But the other focuses on his wound. Daniel’s blue eyes were a mix of fury and concern. They turn into slits as he faces Max. He growls, like a wild animal honing in on its prey.

“Shit, D-David...” Max stutters.

Daniel moves past him. The chains snap from the bed frame as he lunges. David leaps forward before Daniel could inflict any real damage at the same time Gwen wields her machete, ready to strike Daniel down. He almost misses the chain but soon as his hand closes around the cool metal, he cries out when a wave of pain hits his arm. The bullet did more damage than he thought. But thankfully, he succeeds in stopping Daniel. Gwen’s looking between them, half-apologetic and half-scared.

“Leave.” David grounds out. His wound did nothing to help the situation. His arm hurt as he was extending it to hold Daniel back. He’s glad he didn’t move any further. Gwen stood in place, looking at him like she didn’t quite understand him.

“Take Max and go. Right this instant.” David glares. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with them. Right now, he needed to get Daniel away from them. He needed to calm him down. His friend nods grimly as she takes Max by the collar and hauls him out of the cabin along with Space Kid who watched everything.

As the cabin door shuts close, he lets go of the chain. He stops himself from groaning in pain as he lowers his arm. Immediately, the blonde is at his side. David tries to cover his wound. It had been grazed but luckily, the bullet didn’t go through him. He tears up and soon, he feels Daniel’s arms around him.

_We’re okay. No one’s dead._ _Daniel is still mine_. He leans on his chest and cries. He didn’t want to think of Max. He didn’t want to think of his injury. He only wanted Daniel and found contentment in his embrace. It was truly them against the world. No one will ever understand what he felt. Not Max, not Gwen, not even the kids.

Their love threatened them. Their feelings were dangerous. And Max took it upon himself to execute the threat, all because he thought David didn’t know any better. David buries his face in his chest and counts to ten. _They were wrong. They were all wrong_. Because as everything quiets down and he listens to Daniel, he hears not only one beating heart, but two—his and Daniel’s. This is how he reassures himself. This is the reason why he believes there’s still hope for him. Daniel’s heart is proof of him living, even as the virus thrives in his body.

He was right. They could never be together this way. His friends would not approve of it; would never understand it. The world’s an unforgiving place. It’s time he finds where he truly wants to be and how this’ll cost him.

 

artwork by [echo644](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/echo644) / [just_.friends](https://www.instagram.com/just_.friends/?hl=en)


	10. Dawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well damn, this came way too early! Consider it as a 2018 present? Anyway, this... has been real fun with you guys. The story definitely got me into writing again, and I will not let go of this fandom just yet. Hoping to write more this year, whether it be danvid or another fandom. But anyway, this was super fun to write and um... quite emotional too. I legit squeal and cry as I type all this down xD ugh, back to the topic.   
> I reaaaally don't know if I can write a sequel? Like, I want to! I seem to have it all plotted down but... maaan idk. I just gotta think hard about it. So for now, more angsty danvid for y'all. Thank you all for reading, giving kudos and commenting! I feel y'all's pain TT-TT I cri for danvid too. Some of you are hella awesome, with your words and fanart and support. This end of the year has been a blast. Till we meet again soon?  
> Oh! And of course, sketches for some of the characters to be seen at the end of the chapter.

When he enters the cabin, everyone’s eyes are trained on him. Gwen’s the first one to approach him, taking his arm slowly. When David eyes her suspiciously, she almost hesitates. There was a quiet stillness around the room; a tension that can be cut by a blade.

“Let me. I need to disinfect the wound and wrap it,” he sees her grow uneasy when she mentions disinfecting it. David nods and lets her escort him to the mattress where the first aid kit waited for him. He turns his back on the kids as he takes off his shirt. He can practically feel Max’s glare burning straight through him. He lets Gwen dab a cotton ball on his skin with disinfectant and he hisses at the discomfort. She wraps a bandage around it. He’s thankful of her precision and steady hands. He’s been shaking ever since he walked out of the cabin.

“Thank you,” he says quietly. Gwen sits beside him, hand on his knee. She nods acknowledged and helps him put the shirt back on. Once he’s all covered, he turns to the remaining members. _Hold on a sec_ , he makes a quick headcount. His eyes dart around the cabin. “Where’s Neil and Preston?” he asks.

“Yeah, about that,” Max starts with a shaky voice. With David’s heavy attention on him, he shifts in place uncomfortably. “I sort of made them come after Space Kid.”

“Space Kid was the only one I found,” Gwen stands up. “Max.” She says warningly.

“I’m sorry! I thought I—wait,” the boy furrows his eyebrows. “You didn’t find them?” At the same time, something dawns on them as it did on David. _Oh no_ , he could feel himself crumbling. They’ve messed up so much in a day. For this to pile up...

“We can’t leave them out there,” David says.

“For all we know, they’re probably dead!” Max looks away and rubs his arms self-consciously. David wasn’t blind. He knew Max felt more than guilty and wished for more than anything for that to be false. David could see Max’s pessimism eat at him.

“We could grab a couple flashlights.” David races to the windows. He sweeps the broken shards away with his boot and momentarily worries if Space Kid got hurt in the process. He puts that thought aside as he looks out and sees the orange hue of the sun setting.

“What if they’re too far out to hear us?” Gwen speaks up. “It’ll take us till night to go around looking for them.” The doubtful tone in her voice didn’t go unnoticed. The brunette turns to her unpressured.

“Then once it’s dark, they’ll see the flashlights,” he’s stalking across the room rummaging through their packs for the materials. “Gwen, don’t give up on me now. Those kids are counting on us,” he says. He grabs one and tosses it to Gwen. “We did it for Max. We can do it for Preston and Neil too.” He looks at her hard. Once he gets the affirmative nod he’s been waiting for, he grabs the other flashlight and his bat.

“And you’re going to leave us here?” Max puts his hands up. “No explanation whatsoever—“

“The explaining can wait,” David turns to him a bit disdainfully. His actions haven’t been forgotten and David’s still scarred by the recent events—quite literally. Kid or not, he still put someone at gunpoint. He didn’t think the kid would actually shoot but when he did, David was beyond lucky to only get grazed.

“Preston and Neil’s lives are top priority. If you want me to explain myself, I will. I’ll explain Daniel’s side if I have to. But Max, what you did today might have cost someone else’s life. We need to find Preston and Neil right now,” he opens the door, ready to walk out with purposeful strides but freezes when he sees the familiar outline of a child in the distance.

“Neil!” he calls out. Seeing the figure look up, he knows he’s been heard. David runs and comes after the boy. He hears the boy call out the same time Gwen calls him back in warning. As he hugs Neil to his chest, he could hear the boy tear up. He was heaving and soon as he pulled back, David’s shirt was damp.

“Let’s get you inside, buddy,” David croons, losing whatever tension grew on his shoulders just a few minutes ago. Neil nods as he lets David pull him by the arm.

“Where’s Preston?” He asks as soon as they enter the mess hall. He hears Neil tear up some more and he looks at him alarmingly. Gwen came to the boy’s side and patted his back. Even Max started to get worried.

“Neil? Where’s Preston?” Max comes up to the other boy.

“He...” Neil hiccups. He wipes his tears away and looks at his hands. “We ran into a bunch of them. Too much of them. We lost track of-“ he looks straight up, his eyes finding Space Kid. “I’m sorry.” He breaks down completely. Gwen puts her arms around him and eyes Max accusingly.

“He didn’t make it,” Neil whispers, after a moment of silence. David stiffens. Max takes a step back as if it punched him.

“No. Don’t you dare fucking lie at a time like this Neil, or I swear to god—“

“I’m not lying!” Neil looks up from Gwen’s comforting hug. His eyes were red. “You made us come after Space Kid. He was ahead of me and I tried catching up. Then just like that, something came at him and he was tackled down.” Neil sniffs. “I saw it with my very own eyes. Why would I lie about something so horrible?”

“He had a knife, didn’t he?” Max asked guiltily.

“He panicked, okay?  Anyone would’ve at that situation! He stabbed the- the thing in the chest. Multiple times but it didn’t work. Before I could reach him, the monster already bit him. He was...” Neil took a deep shuddering breath, “he was already chewed down to the bone,” he mumbles shakily, almost out of breath. It sounded like he was traumatized.

“I ran. I couldn’t save him. I know when things go from bad to worse, to shit, this is fucked up! I- I had to leave him. I couldn’t even give him a peaceful death. I ran before I saw him get reanimated.” Neil shook his head, his eyes aimed downward.

David felt the urge to slam his bat down; to break something. This group was falling apart faster than he thought. He wanted to scream. He wanted to curse and just let it all out. They were out there ‘cause of him and Gwen. Every action has its consequence. He combs back his hair roughly and stares at the ceiling in despair. He didn’t want to cry but right now—

Preston was gone. They lost another one. David comes up to Neil and hugs him harshly. He captures Gwen’s miserable stare. _May Preston always be with us_ , he communicates silently. Her lips twitch, not exactly a smile but something akin to it, filled with sadness.

“I’m glad you came back to us, Neil.” David whispers. Neil nods against his chest. Once he lets go, he walks over to the window and looks out. Somewhere out there in the forest, Preston’s body could be meandering, looking for them. It fills him with misery. If only there was a way to prevent his death. If only David found them sooner. Anything could’ve happened. He could’ve been the one bitten instead of Preston. But no, Preston’s fate had other plans. _Every action has its consequence_. David should’ve learned that lesson by now.

“And you’re not injured?” he asks Neil. The boy shakes his head. Gwen inspects him either way. He waits for them to settle as he leans on the wall. He was hurt, tired, and wanted to get things over with. He leans his weapon on the wall as he looks out the window one last time, looks to where the cabin is.

“What compelled you to do it?” he says after a second, eyes not focusing on anything. He just wanted to drift off, somewhere where pain and hurt didn’t exist. He turns his back on the window and faces Max. “I should be lecturing you about the cons of using a gun on your first try, but I’m going to put that aside and ask... why.” David walks forward.

“Why... did I try to save your life? Why did I want Daniel dead? Why did I try to do something a normal person would do?” Max bites back. “Daniel. Doesn’t. Love you.” He emphasizes. David tries not to let this get to him.

“Our affair is none of your business.” He says curtly.

“None of our-“ Max grimaces. “I saw a threat. It’s only right to terminate said threat before it ends us. Do you know nothing from zombie movies? This is the exact shit that fucks everyone over just ‘cause of some stupid kid’s mistake. And that stupid kid is you, David!” he points a finger at him. “And maybe Space Kid,” Max added.

“Hey,” a faint protest comes from the other boy in the room.

“Look, the thing is, if you think Daniel has feelings for you, you’re wrong,” Max says. David can feel his cool mask breaking. He holds it. “I’m seeing the husk of a once living breathing human being. Should I even point out that he’s dangerous for you?” despite their height, Max manages to come up to him and tug on his shirt. “He’s a zombie and he will bite you!”

David gently pries his hands off his shirt and puts the boy at a distance. “I’ve said this countless times before and I will say it again, because I believe it’s true. Daniel will never bite me unless I say otherwise. He won’t hurt me, unless I say otherwise,” he gulps. “He respects my wishes the same way I respect him. He came after you because you hurt me. If that didn’t look like he cared, then I don’t know what will.”

“He came after me ‘cause I almost shot him,” Max counters. Then he nervously looks at the ground. “Uh, and you. Sorry about that, by the way.”

David takes a deep breath and allows himself to smile, albeit forcedly. “If you aimed a bit further to the right, you would’ve shot me. But all is forgiven,” he puts a hand on the boy’s hair and ruffles. “Except your actions against Daniel. It’s wrong to take a gun and do whatever you deem is right without giving us a notice. You acted rashly and this cost us... our group.”

David looks around them. They were one person less. It would hurt to see the numbers decrease.

“I was only helping you,” Max grumbles.

“I didn’t need your help,” David looks at him sharply. He maintains his calm demeanor and exhales. “I mean, I appreciate you caring for me, Max. But killing Daniel won’t solve whatever conflict you have. He won’t...” a harsh abrupt laughter comes from his throat. “He won’t use me against you.”

“As much as I’m against Max’s actions,” Gwen intercepts, gaining David’s attention. “I agree with what Max said. Daniel is a threat and if you can’t see that, David, then it might cost you your life.” She frowns. She reaches out to him but David jerks away. He flinches like her touch burned him.

“No no no, he isn’t,” David insisted. He was close to breaking. _Listen to what I’m saying. Why aren’t they listening?_ He’s freaking out internally but he levels it out with even breathing.

“Yes, he _is_ ,” Max, feeling boosted with Gwen’s support, pushes on. “Daniel is beyond saving. He only craves to eat and, I don’t know, maybe pass on the infection.”

“Even if-“ David swivels to Gwen, betrayed at having her speak against him. “-if he has feelings for you, it doesn’t mean you’re entirely safe from him.” She hesitates, looking away from David.

“But he saved me!” Space Kid intervenes. David felt the childish need to nod.

“And we’re thankful for that,” Gwen says. “But we have to understand that there are things that are the way they are. The virus might not be that bad right now, but it could get worse.” She calmly puts a hand on David’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about everything. I’m sorry this has to happen, but Daniel, no matter what you say, can and _will_ hurt us sooner or later,” Gwen mumbles under her breath enough for only David to hear.

He only lends her one ear. She can’t sway him; can’t sway his final decision. “But Gwen, _listen_ to me. Daniel isn’t dead. His heart beats and it beats for me.” He turns to her desperately, catching her hands. If he can’t persuade her now... “I’m not making this up. He’s alive in there somewhere and I want to bring him back. Please, let me.” He croaks out. Her hands tighten around his, her eyes harden.

“No. I’m not letting you do this to yourself. David, get a grip—“

David knows when some things are futile. He knows when some people just... won’t understand. He lets go; lets his hands go slack as he fights back the tears. He’s staring at Gwen but what she doesn’t know is that inside, he’s letting go of everything too. He’s done everything to shine him in good light, to show her that Daniel is not the enemy. But she didn’t let him in; didn’t listen to David too.

This flaw he has. It has consumed him entirely. David’s got a taste of what this corruption is, what it feels like for others to not understand. Out of context, anyone would oppose to his relationship with Daniel. Anyone—but him.

He nods grimly without really looking at her. He can stare through her steely gaze now; no longer does it make him quiver. No longer will he heed his best friend’s words. He separates from her like a gap slowly widening. The empty hole she left in his chest is like a black hole, eating him up from the inside. David never wanted this divide. But she... won’t ever understand. Daniel was the only one who could help him.

He grabs his bat and heads to the door.

“Wait, David? Where are you going?” He can feel Gwen’s voice reaching out to him one more time, like fingers desperate to hang on something before falling. David was that something—he was the ledge.

For a while, he stands there. His shoulders straighten as he turns back to her one final time. “I think I need some space,” his lips shyly tilt upward, a traitorous look. “I think your words… have brought the light to my darkness. Both you and Max. I need to think of... letting Daniel go.” He watches the sagging relief, the look of pure happiness form in Gwen’s face. He almost rears back. Even Max looked relieved, but Neil was looking way too suspicious.

“So where are you going?” Neil stands up.

David considers his bat, eyes shining. He gives it a sickening twist in the air, admiring the weight in his hands and the arc it makes as he maneuvers it. Lies after lies come out of his mouth. “Off to finish what Max should’ve done.” He nearly gulps the words back down.

“Wait- I didn’t think you’d-“ Gwen pauses, uncertainty clogging her throat.

“I think it’s a personal matter between us. If I choose to end things, I rather... end things with a bang,” he chuckles weakly, repulsed at himself for talking about Daniel like this. _It won’t matter. I’ll make it up to him_ , he thinks happily. His guts twist. Then everything comes rushing at him—him leaving Gwen, leaving the kids. Leaving the camp and the life he had before it. _Goodbye, Darla. Cameron. For all the people who’ve made it with me in this journey_. He doesn’t voice this out though.

“But... killing him? I thought you were so against it-“

“Gwen, I think you’ve made your point when you said he would never change. When Max said he’d never love me back. I get it. Maybe you’re right. Do you honestly think I could get through this with him still here?” he shakes his head. “I need to get rid of him.” Without waiting for her reply, he unwinds the chains, throws it aside and opens the door.

“Wait,” Neil stops him.

He hates how he can easily find the cracks in David’s mask. He turns slowly.

“Just like that? You let a few words get to you and suddenly, you’re letting him go?” Neil furrows his eyebrows. “But, it doesn’t make sense. You seemed so... attached.” David tries to maintain his breathing. Any sign of him panicking and Neil will catch on. He was always the smartest in the bunch.

“I can’t put Daniel before this camp. My weird infatuation for him won’t help our situation.” He says calmly.

“You were there to defend him. You got in the way of a gun, twice! For him! How are you so quick to let this one go?” Neil pushes.

“I learned to let go of a lot of things,” he looks up at Gwen. How her broken look killed him. She thinks she knows what he’s talking about. _She thinks I’m talking about Darla_ , he thinks sadly. _Let her_. “There are some people you cross paths with, but when the time comes, that’s all they are. You cross them and soon, you’re moving past them. It’s the same for everybody.” He swore he caught the tears in Gwen’s eyes before he turned and walked out. He can hear Neil question him further but Gwen’s voice silences Neil.

As soon as the cabin door closes and he’s too far out to turn back, David lets the tears flow.

“Goodbye, Gwen. I love you.”

. . . . .

It’s all he ever wanted to feel. Not the pain of dealing with loss, not the rage when someone got in your way, not the... unhappiness. Daniel’s hand is woven tight around his as he leads him deeper into the forest. He’s wheezing slightly, not completely healed from his separation with Gwen. How it would hurt her to find out he didn’t come back.

“Daniel,” he murmurs his name like a chant. The blonde only rub circles into his hand comfortingly. The farther they are from camp, the lesser chance they’ll have of seeing him. He walks alongside the other, feeling his skin brush against the other. He took off his parka along the way, not needing the extra cloth.

Daniel pauses and faces him. David smiles, cheeks stained and eyes puffy. He cups his cheek, feeling the coldness spread through his palm. The other mimics his smile sadly and leans his forehead against David’s. He takes his hand in his and uses his thumb to carve out letters.

‘Sure?’

David nods after a second. “This is the only way.” He whispers the words between them. His lips were so close to touch.

He stares at him with drunken love. David has fallen. He’s too far gone to get any help. This was the only cure for his aching need. He unwraps the bandages Gwen wove under his armpits and around his shoulder. He winces as the bandage uncovers the still open wound. It wasn’t big, but it wasn’t just a scratch. He discards the white cloth and holds Daniel’s face. His fingers linger till it dances down his neck. He touches the collar, cold and hard. If only there was a way to remove it so he could bury his face in the other’s neck.

Daniel steps closer to him. He’s holding his waist. David’s face heats up, despite the coldness. Their noses touch. Daniel’s giving him his last chance to back away, but even David could read the need in Daniel’s dilating eyes.

He nudges him with his nose. “I want this.” He says. Daniel looks at him for a long time. David’s breathless from just staring. Maybe it was the anticipation of turning. Would he really turn out like him? All he could do was hope as Daniel’s mouth descends on him. But he aims at his lips. He’s kissing him. It was chaste and quick, but David felt his world spin. Cold flesh against his warm, chapped lips. _Oh god_ , he nearly buckles. His own darkness grows, craving more of Daniel.

Then his mouth is on his wound. Daniel holds him against the tree as his tongue darts out and licks his injury. David flinches, uncommon to the feeling. Daniel’s hands are supportive, searching, and comforting. He melts in his touch. The feeling of pain and pleasure all mix, warmth and cold colliding. David goes dizzy.

He yelps as he feels his teeth graze the wound. Waves of numb pain waft through him. Daniel’s body keeps him upright. He flexes his fingers, feeling them go numb. He holds onto Daniel’s head, threads his fingers through his hair. He bites down his tongue, afraid to make any noise as the other bit and licked and touched him everywhere.

David was a mess. He could feel his toes starting to numb too. As Daniel lifts his head, David doesn’t hesitate to capture his lips once more. His hands feel like jelly as he wraps them around the other’s neck. Daniel lays him down and cuddles up beside him. David welcomes the coldness that started to spread in his body. He turns to face the other and finds Daniel smiling at him.

“Don’t let me go,” he whispers against Daniel’s lips after kissing him one more time. His vision goes blurry. He blinks and soon lets the darkness overcome him. He sleeps in Daniel’s arms as the other only watches him. He waits. And waits.

When David opens his eyes, they’re different. When his gaze lands on Daniel, Daniel’s holding his face in place. Daniel forces him to remember him. He cries in relief as David’s familiar green eyes clear up the fog and focuses on him. He chokes on his unbelieving expression and kisses him.

David holds him close, remembering only the boy with blonde hair and those lively blue eyes. He remembers. The white shirt, the collar, the wound. David’s mind supplies him with a name. Daniel. He was his purpose for living. He was the reason why everything looked distorted. But he didn’t care, as long as he had this man in his arms. His shoulder hurt, but he didn’t dare look away from Daniel’s loving gaze. He was stuck and he would gladly remain wherever he was.

Because David couldn’t have asked for anything better.

 

* * *

 

 

That night, Gwen and the group had scouted the forest, looked high and low for their friend. He never returned after the moon was up in the sky. Something was wrong and Gwen had a dreadful feeling she knew why. She didn’t want it to be true but as they saw the cabin door wide open, she knew David left that night with a different purpose.

“He lied!” She screamed till her voice went hoarse. She yelled and yelled. None of the kids stepped up to comfort her. None of them dared touch her. She was inconsolable. Nonetheless, they hunted him down, flashlights all over the place. She refused to believe what had happened. She needed to see proof. She hunted like a bloodhound, tearing down the infected who came their way. They strayed too far from camp. Soon, they were everywhere. There were too much of them and Gwen was overwhelmed. Was it another horde? Neil had to pull her back before she walked right into death’s hands. As they ran back, she realized they followed. They kept running but something drew her attention away. The cloth on the ground. She grabbed it with shaky hands as he realized it was David’s parka. She amputated the incoming girl who reached her arms out to her without a glance and ran as angry tears rolled down her face.

She held it to her chest with one hand as she sliced with her machete on the other. Once they reached camp, she froze. They were there too. They had to get out. Gwen urged the kids to follow as she untied the boat from the dock. She dumped David’s parka inside and turned to gather the rest of the group. Space Kid tripped as one of the corpses descended on him, mouth watering with drool, hands bloodied and green from decay. Before Gwen could leap, Max had intervened. He pushed Space Kid out of the way and sliced with his dagger. He managed to swipe at the monster’s face, but the hands caught him by the hoodie.

“Max, no!” Gwen was too late when she got there. The corpse managed to take a chunk out of Max’s hand. Gwen brought the machete down with vigor. Max too was gone, but he turned to Space Kid and... smiled.

“Idiot, watch out next time. I won’t be there to save your ass anymore.” Gwen couldn’t endure any more losses. She gave Max a quick death and hauled the others to the boat. Everyone was crying, wailing, and Gwen refused to break at a dangerous time. She cut them loose and rowed and rowed till her arms ached with exhaustion. She watched as the sea of corpses stayed behind, arms outstretched as if they could still catch her. Thankfully, she didn’t see David’s face anywhere, or else she would’ve broken down entirely. There were only three of them left.

Neil. Space Kid. And her.

 

* * *

 

 

**EPILOGUE**

 

When Gwen woke up, the sun was up in the sky. She was lying on her side, with her cheek on the ground. She could feel the gravel dig into her skin. She groaned, lifting her head up.

“Well, hello there. You’re a new face around here,” a muffled voice filled her ears. She looked around. She saw Neil and Space Kid on their knees, hands up. Gwen followed their line of sight.

A silhouette covered her as another girl stood before her, looking down at Gwen. When she moved back, Gwen realized she’d been holding a blade against her. She blinked and got a clear look at her captor. Her blood went cold. Blonde hair, striking blue eyes. It was so reminiscent of Daniel that she almost backed away. But no, her slightly tan complexion distinguished her.

She also wore a pink gas mask. A sleeveless white shirt and... pink jeans. Her outfit screamed for attention and Gwen felt repulsed by so much colors. The girl pulled down the gas mask around her mouth and exhaled. “I know what you’re thinking. Why black boots to go with my attire? Well, for one, I don’t need to clean em’ when I walk in the blood of my enemies. And two,” she flicked her wrist. “Heels make it so hard for me to run. Boots are the next best thing.” She spread her arms, grin wide but unwelcoming. Gwen didn’t like her. Something told her to leave right now before things turn messy.

“Oh, how rude of me. I haven’t introduced you to the group. Sasha, Tabii, Erin?” She clapped her hands. Behind her, three girls emerge, all a dash of white and pink. They execute a curtsy and look down on them. One of them had an eye patch. The other held a shotgun. Gwen sat up and got on her feet. The blonde before her watched her with cautious eyes. Her grin hasn’t faltered.

“I’m Jen,” she extends her hand. Gwen stared at it suspiciously. Even her nails were polished. _Just who the hell is this chick?_ Gwen eyed her discreetly, from her dirt-stained boots to her tied up blonde hair. To see her doing the same made her red with embarrassment.

“Gwen,” she said after a while. She puts her hand out and shakes it.

“And those two lovely lads?” Jen tilts her head, looking over her shoulder.

“Neil. And Sp-“ she pauses. “Neil. Both of them are Neils.” Gwen says with a straight face. Jen looks at her confused, until one of the girls step forward. The girl with the eyepatch.

“I’m Tabii. It’s totally cool to meet new peeps,” her voice grates on Gwen’s nerves.

“Tabii, lay off! Let Jen do the speaking,” the girl with pink eyes and long untamed hair spoke up. She bowed when Jen looked at them.

“Thank you, girls. Tabii, listen to Sasha,” she says. She turns back to Gwen and smiles, this time, less toothy.

“We welcome you to our camp. It’s not often we get visitors, but when we do, they’re usually...” Jen makes a slicing motion against her neck, still maintaining that smile. She laughs heartily. “You get my point. Come! You must be parched or hungry. Your Neils can come too,” as Jen turns away, Gwen’s quick to catch the disdain in her expression. She certainly didn’t like this bitch, but if there’s food and water, they could probably stay for a few days before finding a way back to their camp. They didn’t even know where they are.

Neil and Space Kid huddle close to her as Jen and the three girls walk them through their new camp. Neil tugged on Gwen’s shirt, urging him down. “They’re the girls. They’re the ones who came to our camp before you guys and asked for shelter. I gave them food when they left. Do you think they recognize us?”

“How would I know? Make sure they know who you are, if so. They could repay their gratitude by helping us out. But...” Gwen’s eyes follow the tall girl with blonde hair. “Don’t trust that bitch with the mask. I don’t like her.” Neil nods.

. . . . .

It was on a random day that Gwen was reminded of what pain felt like. How emotional hurt could break someone. As they were scouting the forest, they ran into a group of corpses. On their way back, a few managed to follow. Erin was shooting them down but her bullets soon ran out. Jen swung her axe. They arrived at the safety of their camp but something made Gwen freeze. The rattling of chains sounded so familiar that she just had to find the source of it. Beyond the trees, far from the corpses that were coming after them, there stood the familiar white clad man. The collar glinted in the light, taunting her. Gwen felt herself choke.

And by his side, Gwen’s long lost friend. He was David but... also not. His open wound proved him that he wasn’t... him. Gwen could slaughter these corpses just to get to them—to get to where David is standing right now. How she longed to hug him again. _David!_ But Jen’s hand clamps on her shoulder, tearing her gaze away from them to look at her in surprise.

“Are you deaf? I said get inside, now!” muffled voice rang out as the gas mask blocked her mouth. Jen swung her axe but it didn’t hit Gwen. It hit the corpse who was a few feet away from her. Gwen nodded as Jen urged her back. Yet she couldn’t help glancing behind her, trying desperately to catch the familiar red hair and green eyes. Gone. She pulls up the gas mask they’ve been given ever since they got accepted into camp and follow’s Jen’s orders back into camp.

From the other side of the forest, David retreats with Daniel. Something about the girl who looked at him with so much emotion hit him. She looked familiar too. Someone in his past life, perhaps? But David couldn’t deny the way his stomach turned when they met eyes. He knew her, yet he didn’t. As Daniel pulls him away, he promises to try to see her more—this girl with the purple eyes and the black gas mask. She also wore a familiar olive green parka. Something about her screamed familiarity but... David just couldn't put his finger on it. They retreat into the forest, away from danger, away from the monster that is Jen. ‘Cause David remembered her; remembered Daniel’s history and how this girl plagued him. Seeing the wrath churning underneath Daniel’s skin, David knows it’s time to get him far away.

There will be a perfect time to strike. But now’s not the time. Not when he found someone who he feels should mean something to him. David and Daniel leave their camp. They hold each other’s hands as they guide the other away from the devil. They were going to face her someday, that viper. She’s got her teeth sunken deep on those poor mice, waiting for the venom to destroy them from the inside. They’ll get her hopefully when she’s vulnerable and weak. And David can’t wait to see that bitch crumble and fade for what she’s done to Daniel.

 


End file.
